Nikolai1

This happens to me a lot, but one thing I've noticed is that my eyes seem to deliberately find the 11:11 on the clock. I can be looking in the other direction, and suddenly I quite deliberately turn round and glance at the wall clock and there it is...11:11. Some say it is just noticing it more because we are thinking about it, like when we are thinking of buying a Zafira and all we see are Zafiras. Others say that the numbers appear mysteriously in our lives as messages from higher realms. My theory is somewhere in between these. Our higher consciousness is out of time and space, but when immediately translated into time and spaceit would constitute 360 vision and awareness. As our higher consciousness becomes strengthened it starts to direct our normal consciousness, despite being itself subliminal. Our higher consciousness sees the 11:11 on the wall clock through 'eyes in the back of our heads' and so our physical eyes are drawn to notice it. 11:11 in itself has no significance other than that is four 1s which only happens once a day. It is rare, that's all. But what is significant is that we have awakened a part of our consciousness that can notice it, even when we aren't looking.

"If original spirit were truly your sole occupation you would see all that alters and dies in the same way that you perceive the movements that dancers give to their streamers, and would resolve to seek that which in you neither varies nor dies."

So the CIA released 13 million pages of classified information and amid the usual betrayals, and assassinations, and humdrum daily acts of cynical realpolitik, something rather interesting emerged. The CIA privately investigated the psychic powers of Uri Geller and concluded that he had 'demonstrated his paranormal perceptual ability in a convincing and unambiguous manner.' The existence of the telepathic mind, that is, the notion that we have perceptual organs that can read another's thoughts or see objects at distance or out of view, is a world-changing thing to contemplate. It is strictly not something that humans or animals are supposed to be able to do. Most of us just dispose of the extraordinary cognitive challenge that these studies pose by denying such powers exist. They make the human being an entirely different thing to what we thought. I don't know why the Geller investigation was made classified, but even now it is in the public domain, there is no possible way that the public themselves can cope with the information. It will be as if it never happened. Though we all read it in the newspapers yesterday and today, our minds will classify the information. We each judge that it is best if we don't know too much into these things. 'Better to stick with the narrative,' so says our own inner CIA. I love these stories, though. They expand the mind. They feel liberating to read! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/18/uri-geller-convinced-cia-psychic-warrior/

From the scientist involved in the testing http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/no-way-could-explain-cia-scientist-convinced-uri-gellers-psychic/

I think a person can have real psychic ability and use it to be a showman. And I think the same person will use cheap illusion tricks in order to back up failure. I'm nor saying Uri Geller is a saint, but he as demonstrated extraordinary abilities under controlled conditions. But the main point is that the existence of these abilities are radically world changing the moment we admit to their existence. And that is what most cannot do. The CIA docs are as good evidence as you will get, but they will be ignored.

Geller claimed to have siddhis and was investigated by the CIA, and they agreed. I'm just aware that for the average man on the the street, as well as for our chief intellectual leaders, siddhis do not exist and those who claim to have them are charlatans. This evidence is as strong as it gets, straight from the classified archives.

Whatever Geller has done in other contexts and whether some of his shows are magic tricks...This isn't. Nungali's post is the usual response of the inner CIA. Talk instead about where he was dubious as a person. If we focus on this it lets our minds not dwell an the momentousness of the CIA investigation.

"I, old Tcheng, do not interfere to maintain, modify or change the course of things by following the desire of the individual mind. Let there be neither distrust nor revolt but only the necessary act. If I behave in a different way with you, it is so that you might, at last, by yourselves, directly see original spirit instead of always seeking it through the mediation of dead fellows or by running after scatterbrains like me. My own manner, indeed, is to shake you like saplings in the mountain wind. Thus, I break up all your struts and props, and, there you are, all undone, with nothing more to hold on to. But since I sap up all that that you rely upon and, thus, you are filled with fear, you say, to reassure yourselves, that I sin against the law and convention and am but a vile blasphemer. So you go on desparately clinging to appearances and accessories instead of letting them depart from you by themselves, without striving to hold onto them. My words find no echo in you, so I play a trick on you and tell you they come from a great and famous fellow who has been dead for centuries. But you sill do not understand that they are your direct and immediate concern. On the contrary, you seize on them as something precious, good for keeping and to cultivate. Bald-heads, by holding onto futilities, you simply waste your life away and the evidence of original spirit sips through your fingers. What a shipwreck for you!"

I've probably posted this before but it's one of my favourite essays on this subject. Enjoy! http://www.awakeninthedream.com/catching-the-bug-of-synchronicity/

Thanks Michael - in two weeks I return to full time work and leave behind a quiet home based lifestyle that I've been living since 2010. Definitely feels like I need to find new ways of being me!

Hi Michael - hope you are well. It's my birthday today, and I transit from a 12 year of the Hanging Man to 13...Death! Do you have any thoughts on the meaning of this card? Thanks!

Can someone explain how that yogi lay on the fire? Was it an illusion?

How was the burning pyre trick done?

How was the fire thing done. Are you saying that it was a illusion?

I'm nearly 40 with three children and my partner and I are certain we don't want any more. I've noticed that friends in the same situation are starting to have the vasectomy. For me there seems something unnatural about this solution. Be really interested in hearing your opinions?

Yes, but you would never go on some sort of masturbation binge - it's just not something you would ever do or feel the need to do. It's all very well to talk about 'ifs' but when we look at your actual life - you are celibate and sexual release is something that is unwanted/unnecessary. But for me, it is still feasable that I go on some kind of binge and so the energetic highs and lows that ensue are facts of life. You, perhaps rightly, resist the engineering talk, and yet your very life seems to be an example of what happens when we outgrow the need to 'ground' ourselves through sex. I think my main point is that we need our energies to be in balance. Sex can be used to ground those energies; or it can be used to raise them by turning sex into a kind of yoga. This is why there can be no no proscribed view on the spiritual harms or benefits of sex. But one thing that is true is that we reach a point where we stop using sex as a way of modifying our energetics. I think when this point comes then sex becomes something irrelevant - we know in advance that it serves no purpose for us. It no longer grounds us or raises us. The purposeless of it becomes very obvious when fear of babies becomes a part of sex. One wonders: why put up with unnecessary fear.

You're basically saying the same as I've been saying. Although I don't recomnend the deliberate pursuit of celibacy - it will naturally become a feature of our lives as we awaken. I'm in a situation where two developments have naturally converged: 1) My partner and I feel an acute desire not to conceive any more children. 2) I no longer need the pleasures of sex in my life anyway. While I enjoy intimacy as much as ever, intercourse seems unnecessary and a bit ridiculous - undignified even. The orgasm is still a pleasure, but sometimes I experience almost equivalent bodily pleasures spontaneously and I enjoy a subtle background pleasure day in day out, which it seems to me that too much sex would dissipate. I understand that for some people, sex - like meditation - is understood as a powerful spiritual practice. I think if you have these views then it is unlikely to strike you as ridiculous or unnecessary. But for me, I've never attached that much spiritual significance to it, so it seems it is time for me to let it fall by the wayside. Perhaps contain is the wrong word - the 'capacity to sustain energy' would perhaps be better. One thing I've noticed is that when I go without sex I experience a strong feeling of buzzing energy. Within about a week this becomes so strong that I am no longer able to drink coffee as I am left feeling too 'wired'. If this feeling gets too strong I start to feel quite unpleasant and I need sexual release in order to feel more grounded. My body, in other words, is unable to tolerate the high vibrational frequency that celibacy produces. But, the opposite is also true. With too much sexual release I start to feel too grounded - heavy, lethargic and sluggish and some form of retention is necessary in order to restore the feeling of vibrancy and equilibrium. When it come to spiritual practice there is a definite direction. Over time, the equilibrium bar gets higher and we are required to ejaculate less and the vibrations we feel comfortable with grow higher and higher. There are other ways of noticing this change in basic energy. We find that we no longer need heavy grounding foods ( eg meat) as much as once did, and we don't need other energy lowering substances (like alcohol). Over time we naturally fall into a pattern of vegetarianism, tee-totalism and celibacy. This is not a deliberate ploy - it naturally occurs and we wish it because it feels more wholesome to us. But this can never be turned into a moral code. If a person cannot tolerate high vibrations, they should not attempt celibacy. They will either fail (thus leaving them feeling bad) or they will resort to other compulsive frequency lowering techniques. As many of these teachniques are behavioural/emotional the person may need to lower their energy through mistreatment of other people, or through involvement with situations that they could have avoided by a more judicious attitude to the pleasure of sex. The monkey in a cage is accumulating energy that the animal has not been prepared for. Masturbation is crucial and necessary for equilibrium and well-being. The average human also lives in a kind of cage - incarcerated by their fixed patterns they see in reality. Frequent need for the grounding power of sex is one of the defining traits of the human condition, but is one that the liberated have freed themselves from.

The beauty of non permanent birth control is that people can enjoy a sexual relationship, even though the timing isn't right for them to be conceiving children. But for a person of 40 who already has three children, such a person may feel like their days of conceiving children are behind them. This is a distinctive emotion - and thus a person can feel a dread at the thought of conception that they never felt when they were younger. And therefore a fear can start to spoil our sex life that wasn't there - even in the days when we were less emotionally and financially stable in our relationship. Obviously the vasectomy is a solution to this problem, but I think a lesser solution. Surely the solution is celibacy? That way our bodies and reproductive system are left as nature intended them AND we are free of the fear of conception. Fundamentally it seems to rest on one question. Is it natural and desirable that people continue to have sex when their desire for children is over? Some say yes, some say no. I guess speaking personally, I wonder what else sex has to offer me - even if it is free of fear. Sex is so much a part of human culture that it seems impossible to think of life without it. And yet to me it still falls in the same category as drink, drugs, fame, wealth and all the other substitutions people use in place of the joy of pure being. Anyone who has tried celibacy will report that there are compensations. We feel more stable, confident and more content. But it seems that the energy that is released by celibacy can't be contained by the body - we are set on edge by the energy - and it seems the only way back to balance is by sexual release. For me spiritual practice is all about developing the capacity to contain energy. Celibacy becomes easier as we grow more used to dealing and channeling what is left over. If we are sedentary or uninspired then that energy will become uncontainable and so celibacy is out of the question. Put a monkey in a cage and masturbation becomes absolutely necessary for his well-being because his energy levels become unmanageble. The question of sex and the importance of sex in a relationship reminds me of the question of meditation. There comes a point where sitting meditation falls to deepen our insight. We are called to integrate meditation into our daily life and develop the ability to stay centred even while outwardly active. Sex is like deliberate meditation. But if we are able to express the love and intimacy in each moment, then the concentrated session, becomes unnecessary. This is why i think that the move towards celibacy is natural at some point in our path. I don't yet know whether I am personally ready for celibacy, but one thing is sure : I certainy see it as being my future and it is the future I wish for myself.

See I don't think this koan is about sex. It's about living by the codes of the world when you are in need of the world. It is a reminder that we must be grateful to the gifts that are offered to us. The monk thought he could accept some gifts and not others - this was in skillful of him. But anyway, Michael, you don't seem to like vasectomy but are you an advocate of other types of birth control?

Yes, those with children must follow a certain type of practice and their path will be more bhakti in nature. From the moment the child is born the parent must quickly learn to put their own needs and desires second. The parent must yield to the needs of their child and very often the needs of their partner. You have to learn that deep sense of OKness, even when things aren't going exactly how you want. In the early days, the lesson is very strident and direct. Your whole being is wanting sleep, but when the baby cries, you must put the baby first. Doing this, you learn to access the deep resources which others learn to access through meditation. Yes, meditation is made much harder with children in the house - mostly because of time constraints - but parenthood is also spiritual practice.

I'm not saying that its the end of intimacy, but maybe the end of the specific act that is intercourse. For me, I can't see a way around this. If you have intercourse, then babies may come. And this seems especially true for us, who have always conceived very easily. But let me know what you think?

BTW I agree that a vasectomy wouldn't interfere with our senergetic / spiritual development. For me the main problem woud be the unwillingness to consider life without sex - even though there are strong messages from life that sex is no longer suitable for you. So the person who has a vasectomy would be limited not by the medical procedure, but by the attitude that made them seek out the procedure.

Thank you all for the viewpoints. I suppose I should say more about my own thoughts. I think first of all, I've decided that I won't consider a vasectomy. For me the strong Conviction that you won't father any more children is a kind of milestone in our development. And silent thunder is absolutely right - once that Conviction has struck you, then sex can't be enjoyed with the same abandon. There is a kind of fear surrounding the subject - like you are playing with fire. With three young children in the house we are tired and financially stretched and another child would make this situation a great deal worse. But still, to fix this situation with medical surgery seems false - seems to go against the Way. It seems a solution that is not holistic. To me it shows a stubborn attachment to sexual intercourse, and an unwillingness to imagine how life can be lived without it. I guess for me, if you are happy to have sex then you should be happy to deal with the consequences of sex - this is a holistic situation. The Conviction reveals to us that we are no longer willing to deal with the consequences of sex. So, for me, the thing to try out with resolve and conviction is to try and live without more children and without more sex. I wonder if this might start a new phase in our pasychosexual development - the post-sexual phase. All the traditions have pointed out the role of celibacy, but I think that it is less often talked about as a natural response to the circumstances of life. For a 40 year old man with three children to go celibate is quite different to a 21 year old doing it out of a strong willed desire to boost his energetics. For me it is arising from a specific threshold that has been crossed, and I think this makes celibacy seems rational, natural, appealing and perhaps easier. Broadly speaking, it is one of my major insights that the pleasures of life are often preparations for deeper, more enduring pleasures. I wonder if celibacy can bring a more deep, stable sense of well-being than the orgasm can provide - though both types of well-being are of the same fundamental nature?

Thanks! Any quotes would be appreciated

Yesterday I was wandering around a place near me called Buckfast Abbey - the home of a small community of Benedictine monks. It is a place of lawns, herb gardens and, of course, a large impressive Church abutting onto the rooms and cells where the monks live. It is a fairly new monastery, not much more than a hundred years, and for that reason there is still a small consecreted Methodist chapel in the grounds which pre-dates the building of the monastery. I had walked around the whole grounds with my daughter with a pleasant, peaceful feeling, but when I stepped into this small chapel I was strongly struck by that holy, numinious feeling - the feeling of being in Church. I could not escape the perception that the atmosphere existed within the building. I walked in, and felt it, just as it might have been an aroma in the air. Of course we can wonder what faculty we use to detect this feeling; and also how the stimulus (whatever it is) has accumulated within these four walls. Some might say it is the product of centuries of prayer...? But this is where it gets confusing... I also know from experience that the same holy feeling can descend upon me as if from nowhere. I can be engaged in the most mundane activity, in my kitchen or living room, and from nowhere I am wrapped in the sensations of the numinous. Clearly, centuries of prayer have not consecrated my kitchen, and the mood was not there five minutes ago? This makes me wonder that the Church is nothing other than an outer symbol of a Church that is somehow within us. Or to put it in more Jungian terms, the outer Church is the constellation of an archetypal Church that exists within us. The outer church we can visit at will; the inner church comes to us against our will. Is the atmosphere in the Methodist chapel always there for us to draw on? Or when I visit next week will I find that the holiness deserts me and the perception that it exists within the four walls was an illusion? I ask all this because the feeling of Church is the feeling by which we all wish to live our lives. It is peaceful and loving and entire. If we understand where this feeling lies perhaps we can understand how to dwell in it more permanently.