Search the Community

Samantabhadra is not Paratman. first of all, because Samantabhadra is merely an enlightened Buddha who had the merit to not be born into this cosmic kalpa with knowledge afflictions. There is no Paratman in Buddhism or Dzogchen. Your not even understanding the teachings of the system you are trying to practice. You speak of God some universal static, essence that exists from it's own side? Oh boy... Second of all, I have received guidence on the subtler aspects through dream yoga experience. I have experienced kundalini (one of my kundalini referenced experiences) as my Rinpoche, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche riding a Wind horse up my spine that was like a long cave, slapping with a stick my different chakra points then baking me like bread in an oven in my crown chakra and his eyes were blazing with bliss and I was in a state of bliss, but felt tight in an oven on the crown. The dream was deeply lucid and powerful. The Wing Horse is a Tibetan symbol for Kundalini. I've received many of these types of guidance's on subtler dimensions than the physical from different Rinpoche's, including the Dalai Lama and as well the current Karmapa who I feel very connected to, though haven't seen in this lifetime. You've got many assumptions that are merely based upon your karmic baggage being reflected right back at you.

The first question that occurs to me is what is oneness? Is it the presence of a specific feeling, or the absence of the feeling of separation? The second question is, what does separation feel like? Is it validated by experience? For me, there is a type of experience of "mystical oneness" that is a positive experience. I do not think that this experience can be maintained, since it is a positive state and would require some type of "freezing" of consciousness. I don't know if there is a reliable way of producing this type of "oneness." However, if the feeling of oneness is the absence of the feeling of separation, then this is a different story. Spiritual traditions give many ways to free one of the illusion of separation: critical thinking, examining experience, meditating, asking deeply probing questions. As far as I can tell, there is no short cut. Nor would I expect there to be: neurologists tell us that our way of seeing the world--- me as a separate self--- is based on how the brain has become wired over time. To undo this requires some work. I find that the feeling of separation tends to fall away when I go to sleep and when I have dreams. Exploring the waking, dream, and deep sleep state is a powerful and ancient method of challenging the belief of a limited self. Another method is to closely examine the waking state. I have found that the feeling of separation is just that: a feeling. But the feeling doesn't actually create any separation. In fact, it is imposed on a unitive field of experience.

No, I'm not lost. I am in a state of denial regarding this. You took this, as did Mueller, much deeper than I would ever go. I cannot forget myself. I cannot forget my thoughts when they arise spontaneously. I am still human, not a saint. And yes, this concept that you spoke of appears a number of times, it is even there in the butterfly dream. Yep, I'm still the same old Materialist I always have been.

UFA and the1gza, We are once again dealing with the classical conflict between the traditionalist and the innovator here. Every spiritual system was created by an innovator and preserved by traditionalists. The traditionalists are guarding the "original" system and oppose any changes to it. Yes, there are good reasons for preserving things the way they are. There are also good reasons for the widening and renewal of existing systems. Alchemy has not changed much in its practice since the 1200s? You are kidding me - right? First off, whose Alchemy are you referring to? The Alchemists didn't even agree about the meaning of the terminology and symbolism they were using, much less about the practice of pursuing the Philosopher's Stone! How I know that Nature is and acts as One? Simple... I myself am a unity, yet I am very aware that I am at any moment the net result of a highly complex combination of biological, chemical, physical, meteorological, geo-physical, cosmological, psychological, alchemical, astrological, numerological and other factors. I can single out any of these for special study. But I won't arrive at a thorough understanding of myself (and Nature) if I neglect how all these influences are interwoven. Alchemy was never a closed system. You can't even begin to understand, let alone safely reproduce, the recipes of the ancients if you have no knowledge of chemistry - how could this knowledge be a hindrance? The link to metaphysical philosophy is no modern abolition either. Have you read Zosimos, probably the most important of the Hellenistic Alchemists? He writes about a dream in which he meets the very Divine Pymander that initiated Hermes Trismegistos into the secrets of the world. This is just one example to illustrate how alchemy frequently refers to other systems; chemistry, mythology, metaphysics, astrology, physiology etc. To truly understand it, you are supposed to have knowledge of all these fields. This hasn't changed to this day. Why do you think that many of the greatest Alchemists were universalists? Jabir, Rhazes, Albertus Magnus, Arnald of Villanova, Lull, Paracelsus, Newton. (I omit the question here if ALL of these attributions are historically accurate.) These people were scientists and keen researchers. They were not afraid to think out of the box. They never intended Alchemy a religious system to be worshipped and rigidly conserved. Unlike some modern fraternities whose members typically pretend to know the truth about Alchemy but when asked to elaborate, tell you that it's too subtle for you to understand, or too dangerous, or that they are under oath not to give away the secret... I don't have the time and motivation to enter another tedious discussion of that kind here. My take on these matters should be sufficiently clear from the foregoing, and I don't like overly repeating myself, so I may not further comment on Traditionalist views of Alchemy. I am more interested in elaborating on the astrological parallels to the Chakras, as the OP asked me to do. Nungali, glad you like my Hermes wand.

These deconstructions can be immensely helpful for transcending the very solid limitations that hinder our meditative progress. Because if you hold any of them to be real, it will inevitably stop at that specific realty. Or worse, counter the efforts of hard worked sadhana, making progress a 1 step forwards, 1 step back situation. It also helps me clarify my own understandings: All assertions of true existents are based on the claim that space, time, and quantity are real. The three dependencies traditionally taught can be understood as follows: Emptiness of cause and condition is emptiness of time Emptiness of imputation is emptiness of space Emptiness of part and whole is emptiness of quantity We break them down using dependent origination: What is space? Space is conceived by extension of location. From here to there (not-here). And the conception of here is via not-here. Not-here via here. So it is established like this: the conception of here is dependent on not-here. And not-here is dependent on here. This is a contradiction since here and not-here cannot be conceived at the same time. So the conception of space is an illusion based on an impossibility. What is time? Time is conceived by before and after (not before). So the conception and definition of before is via not-before. Not-before is also dependent on before. But to conceive them together is a contradiction. So the conception of time cannot not real. It is an imagination based on conflicting polarities. Same thing with quantity. One via many (not-one). Many via one. So is everything denied? No. There is one factor that cannot be denied, and that is experiencing. Because it is the foundation of conception. If you say conception precedes experience, then that means conceptions happens outside or before experience. Which we proved to be impossible based on the refutation of both space and time. If they co-arise simultaneously, they would mutually entail one another. But non-conception does not mean experience. Both conception and non-conception are experiencing. So the foundation of everything is experiencing (this is unbounded, meaning there is no such thing as individual units of experience, since that would make space real). The foundation is not conceiving or knowing (this is "individual" and unreal). Conceiving occurs only through dependent origination, because that is how anything can ever be conceived: via contrasting polarities. So if you experience the nature of conceiving (dependent origination/illusoriness), then that is good. If you don't, then you are pretty screwed and think the myriad contradictory illusions are reality. Seeing illusions as illusions thoroughly, being able to create and destroy it freely, then the illusion is a blissful play. If you don't, and take the dream to be real, then you are caught in a hellish play of contradictions, cyclical ideas, and impossibilities. So...let's everyone destroy the impact of delusions pervading our very body and minds! Then let's dance in and as the illusions. _/\_.

I know a man who is former Air Force and was a part of the project back in the 80's. They recruited him because he occasionally had prophetic dreams. They trained him to increase the frequency and duration of these dreams and recorded all of the results. They also had him working on a project to achieve lucid awareness while in the prophetic dream state. The idea was for him (and the others in the project) to try and consciously alter the outcome of the prophetic dream and see if the alteration effected the real world outcome. He never learned the results of the experiments as the funding was cut before the study was finished.

These deconstructions can be immensely helpful for transcending the very solid limitations that hinder our meditative progress. Because if you hold any of them to be real, it will inevitably stop at that specific realty. Or worse, counter the efforts of hard worked sadhana, making progress a 1 step forwards, 1 step back situation. It also helps me clarify my own understandings: All assertions of true existents are based on the claim that space, time, and quantity are real. The three dependencies traditionally taught can be understood as follows: Emptiness of cause and condition is emptiness of time Emptiness of imputation is emptiness of space Emptiness of part and whole is emptiness of quantity We break them down using dependent origination: What is space? Space is conceived by extension of location. From here to there (not-here). And the conception of here is via not-here. Not-here via here. So it is established like this: the conception of here is dependent on not-here. And not-here is dependent on here. This is a contradiction since here and not-here cannot be conceived at the same time. So the conception of space is an illusion based on an impossibility. What is time? Time is conceived by before and after (not before). So the conception and definition of before is via not-before. Not-before is also dependent on before. But to conceive them together is a contradiction. So the conception of time cannot not real. It is an imagination based on conflicting polarities. Same thing with quantity. One via many (not-one). Many via one. So is everything denied? No. There is one factor that cannot be denied, and that is experiencing. Because it is the foundation of conception. If you say conception precedes experience, then that means conceptions happens outside or before experience. Which we proved to be impossible based on the refutation of both space and time. If they co-arise simultaneously, they would mutually entail one another. But non-conception does not mean experience. Both conception and non-conception are experiencing. So the foundation of everything is experiencing (this is unbounded, meaning there is no such thing as individual units of experience, since that would make space real). The foundation is not conceiving or knowing (this is "individual" and unreal). Conceiving occurs only through dependent origination, because that is how anything can ever be conceived: via contrasting polarities. So if you experience the nature of conceiving (dependent origination/illusoriness), then that is good. If you don't, then you are pretty screwed and think the myriad contradictory illusions are reality. Seeing illusions as illusions thoroughly, being able to create and destroy it freely, then the illusion is a blissful play. If you don't, and take the dream to be real, then you are caught in a hellish play of contradictions, cyclical ideas, and impossibilities. So...let's everyone destroy the impact of delusions pervading our very body and minds! Then let's dance in and as the illusions. _/\_.

Dream bliss ... you just described a process of the unconscious, selecting an archetype and delivering to the consciousness and awareness as something that should be played out ... even though the person may not be that thing. be who you are, not try to act like the implanted , unconscious archetype that is sending messages to the unconscious . [ It is probably a moot point, as the original idea here ( post #1) was not actually to deny the faculty existed, but that you had thrown it out, by a conscious act of thought or will. ... but I think you are starting to realise that some of your reposes here ... are still coming from that place. Yes, of course they will arise more when we are tired, stressed, 'not in a good space'. That's one of the dynamics ... some practices even invoke and push that state, so things will arise to consciousness, so we can begin to deal with them. Confrontation ( training, dialogue, examination, psycho-analysis, breath work, etc. causes us to draw on our resources and expose or strengthen them - for good or ill. Success is not assured for every person.

I have a lot of dreams like that. It's awesome if you remember the teachings...but who knows if it's real or just imagination. Our minds are so powerful. When things happen in day to day life that corresponds with the dream, then you know something is up...yet it's still unexplainable and almost unbelievable. But the dream guy seems to have had a good point: whacking yourself and then putting on jow will only get you so far. Good lesson.

He doesn't. Some Buddhists claim that there is a kind of findable continuum, but upon investigation nothing is found. Others claim that there is 'nothing' but how can this be? 'Nothing' cannot be aware. Both are flawed. A very good comparison. You have already highlighted the limitations of a linear interpretation of our being. If there is only NOW, then the arising of subjective awareness and its object must be a simultaneous dualistic event. Consider this; when we dream, we say "I had a dream in which I went someplace, met some people, got scared, did all kinds of things etc". In truth, the entirety of that event was mind-created, especially the subject as well as its objects. We take it for granted that we feature in our dreams, but a subject has to be created in order that the play of being can dance before us. From what does this emerge and by what force? Recent recall within meditation, as well as past life recall. I think you are describing that state. It does. I sometimes get that just before I wake up. Namaste

Homage to Great Bliss! Mahamudra is knowing that all things are one's own mind. Seeing objects as external is just noetic projection. The whole of "appearance" is as empty as a dream. The mind as such is merely a flow of awareness, without self-nature, moving where it will like the wind. Empty of an identity, it is like space. All phenomena, like space, are the same. That which is termed Mahamudra, Is not a "thing" that can be pointed to. It is the mind's own nature that is Mahamudra It is not something to be perfected or transformed. Thus, to realize this, is to realize that the whole world of appearance is Mahamudra. This is the absolute all-inclusive Dharmakaya Uncontrived and just as it is, the inconceivable Dharmakaya, is itself effortless meditation. Trying to attain something is not meditation. Seeing everything like space, like a magical illusion, Neither meditating nor not meditating, Neither separate nor not separate: Such is the Yogin's realization. All virtuous and evil actions Become liberated through this knowledge. The sinful defilements become the Absolute Gnosis itself; becoming the Yogin's friend, this is a fire consuming the forest of trees. Where then is going or staying? Who then needs to run to a Monastery to meditate? If one does not understand this point, liberation will be but a temporary event. When the true nature is realized, one abides in the unwavering state. Whether or not one is in the state of Integration or not, There is nothing to be corrected by antidote or meditation. Whatever arises is devoid of self-nature. Appearances are auto-liberated into the Sphere of Reality (Dharmadhatu). Conceptual creation is auto-liberated into Absolute Gnosis (Mahajnana). The non-duality of these two is the Dharmakaya. Like the flow of a great river, Whatever occurs is meaningful and true. This is the eternal Buddha state, The Great Bliss, transcending the Worldly Cycle. All phenomena are empty of self-identity, Wherein even the concept of emptiness is eliminated. Free of concepts, clinging not to mental projections, is the Path of all the Enlightened Ones. For those fortunate to connect with this teaching, I have uttered these words of heartfelt instruction. Thus, may all sentient beings become established in Mahamudra. - Maitripa

yes, mostly what the venus project and zeitgeist movement is doing is getting people out of perpetual denial. other than that, if one person had a magical blueprint to solve every problem in society, pretty sure he would not stay out there for long, like many inventors, people who challenged the status quo, or just became too important of a person, promoting free thinking. so you have a society where people are expected to act on someone else's created ideals. doesnt matter if they have a good cause or a bad cause. heck, there are even cases where people get arrested for locally growing and selling organic food. talk about a threat. majority of people are unaware. a fully conscious individual does not dream anymore, even when sleeping, his etheric body is fully awake and active. on another note, yes, working towards a solution is always applauded, but the question is, how will you get it to other people, and how will you bypass the current institutions limitations for benefitting others that is well and right if you discover groundbreaking things, if there is no audience to accept it, it soon bleaks into darkness, just because people were not yet ready for it and this is exactly what the big mean machine wants. wants you to focus on individual goals, profit making, keeping secrets, using others for selfish gain etc. the power is in numbers. thougths have power, emotions have even bigger no matter if you take the most advanced qigong master, against millions of people - it is obsolete

Well, thats because they dont exist ... if they reside in the unconscious, and we can just remove that with a declaration .... poof! ... gone ! I disagree with Freud psychology then. IT can be. as you stated, but in many cases of psychological 'aberration' the ego is unable to reconcile, they can be impelled by the forces of the ID and little regulation is available (without some therapy) . Anyway, thats a simplified outline, the rest might be a little too deep for a thread that postulates one can just get rid of the whole concept by denial of its existence. If I said that, I should change it. I believe they are accessible ; dream, symbolism and related imagery, therapy, etc. Good advice, it would do well to follow it. All I would add is in regard to this : " downplaying the unconscious or subconscious mind which is dangerous (as it doesn't appreciate being downplayed). " Indeed it does not ! And if anyone thought a kid that isnt getting enough attention is a problem ... just wait until this puppy wakes up ! ( Patrick Harpur has great writings on this 'ignored' or denied concept of the 'soul' {with an intimately linked function in the unconscious) and what can happen when its processes are not acknowledged )

A very good point. It has been my experience that orgasm depletes the power of the 'dream body' (or whatever term you wish to use to describe it). It tears off energy and weakens the structure. Internal retention is even worse - as the energy is still torn off but remains lose within the body of the person, which can lead to all sorts of health problems. Oddly enough, semen is not necessarily linked to this energy. If it is released without orgasm, then the energy does not go with it. I have also never felt that nocturnal emissions have ever depleted my energy levels, as they always occur for me within the context of erotic dreams and the dream body is somehow disengaged from direct attachment to the physical body. It prompts ejaculation from the sleeping body without being damaged itself. But this is just my own experience and not something I've been taught, or have on authority. Better, like you say, to learn ways of orgasm-less sex. If the taoist teachings are right, then this leads to an increase of energy and a more non-obsessive approach to sex.

What you're describing as a dynamic is a good point. I call this the "trajectory of tantric technology." So you say that the concept of "light workers" is enforcing change on people while the truly enlightened masters have no interest in doing so. Ramana Maharshi made the comment that while there are truly enlightened masters hidden in the Himalayas the karma of energy on Earth is so low right now that none of these masters can really change anything. In fact - to be a truly enlightened master requires such isolation to achieve the results. For example Ramana Maharshi refused to see his mother for when he remained in isolation at the ashram for 9 years - in samadhi - only eating a small bit fed to him by someone else. So the thing is that anyone doing energy training to increase the "frequency" of their energy will have to take into account all the environmental factors of other people or energy sources pulling their energy back down. As per the "tantra trajectory" - the energy training is based on complementary opposites and so if someone is storing up their energy the more they do so then the more others will be attracted to that energy and want to take the energy - even if their attraction is not fully understood on their own level. So the "trajectory of tantric technology" means that western modern technology is actually a projection of repressed life force energy - but since it is repressed it is repressed based on a left-brain dominant inaccurate definition of infinite, a contained geometric materialism. And so the more the technology is developed as a projection then the more it inherently oppresses life on Earth. It does so as the guise of "liberation" and "freedom" but what is actually happening is instead a "separation of heaven (upper body) and earth (lower body) instead of a harmony of heaven and earth as per the real energy training. So with the separation of heaven and earth, again the left brain is dominant for right hand technology which uses iron (the element metal) as passion projected as per the traditional understanding of the elements. This then transforms the water of earth into silica desert which is used via desertification and toxic waste for the metal to take over as machine intelligence and it is done so through fire (solar dynasty heart energy). So water is the pivot point and therefore it is being used up as the leverage energy and water is governed by the lunar female energy. So when I say by doing qigong training we can learn to create water from the Emptiness directly that means by resonating with the lunar cycle we create enough yin qi energy to go into the solar energy properly as harmonic energy so that it resonates into the Cosmic Mother as the Emptiness properly. There's no way that the human masses are going to learn to do this. Humans as a culture did all train to do this as the original human culture for 90% of human history - the Bushmen culture originating as the Sandawe. This is completely ignored and unknown by the human masses too caught up the technocracy. A great new expose on the technocracy is by Julian Assange exposing the seemingly benign Google as really a military company working closely for expanding U.S. imperialism - really a mass-mind control project. http://www.newsweek.com/assange-google-not-what-it-seems-279447 here So some seeming technocracy project is really Google in action, in league with the NSA, dutifully recording and processing all the self-reporting details of the world - and to what end - to properly leverage and channel that information for imperial elite interests. All under the guise of free information exchange for the most efficient use of technological development. Again, in actuality, there is a built in "diminishing rate of return" on technology due to the foundation of inaccurate infinity that it is based on. You want to say that maybe our past has been contrived and that some enlightened masters have recreated life on Earth for us. This reminds me of the qigong master telling me that God is creating new species on Earth right now and so we don't have to be concerned about the ecological crisis. In actuality these types of fantasies are just projections of the techno-fix mentality - the "commodity fetish" that is driven by a desire for materialistic control over Earth. The origins of modern technology are precisely with these Solar Dynasty ritual priests as alchemists who believed they could "contain" infinity within their bodies by storing up their energy. In the original human culture the purpose of energy training was to heal the females and to have harmonic relations with the environment for the safety of the community and better hunting, etc. If a person was "hoarding their n/om" (the boiling energy in the lower tan tien) this was considered a big wrong use of the energy. But what happened is that some of the energy masters did isolate themselves from the rest of the community in order to build up their energy further so they could master the "yang shen" level - the ability for physical transformations. And so the rest of the humans became afraid of these high level masters. But at first if the energy masters were leaving their body too much to travel into heaven - the females would throw water on the male energy masters - water to bring the masters back to their bodies and so the masters could focus on healing the females and not just on their own build up of power. And so while it is easy to dismiss physical reality as a possible illusion - maybe it was recreated in the past by former masters you say - or as another qigong master said maybe God is recreating ecology now for us - this is in actuality an excuse to avoid the needed focus on "harmony of heaven and earth" as a job of ecological sustainability in present times. I'm not saying that anyone can achieve ecological sustainability in present times but that we should at least be honest about what the current role of modern technology is for life on Earth. It is unfortunate that scientists try to report these developments but the political elite have censored them and even changed their words around to change the meanings - not to mention the attacks on ecological activists and social justice activists who are non-violent. For the billions on Earth of humans living in terrible conditions they do so precisely because of the genocidal policies of the elite stealing the resources of the poor as a process of "primitive accumulation." And then these people take to violence as a last attempt for self-defense and so immediately can then be outed as terrorists or guerrillas or communists, parasites, etc. so that the final solution can be implemented against them. But Mother Nature is just as powerful as all these technologies - and so the viruses and bacteria will continue to adapt and over-rule humans - and whatever other catastrophes will kick in - supervolcanos like with Mount Toba that reduced the whole human population to a few thousand back 70,000 years ago - or whatever. Ecology will develop again as there has been life on Earth for billions of years - the dominant species was the Gorgon, 200 million years ago - a large reptilian lion like animal that needed a lot of oxygen. The Troodon was the biggest brain dinosaur, about the size of human, also needing more oxygen. It may be that this oxygen intake that "burns" up food is key to the ionization process - as chi energy neutralizes free radicals and the chi energy is taken up by the Earth energy via grounding - an internal tingling is felt that activates the parasympathetic nervous system. And so the heart frequency of the REM dreaming visionary state is resonating with the Schumann frequency of the Earth-ionosphere lightning energy. Gurdjieff stated that if life on Earth does not respect and help the Moon grow spiritually then the Moon will destroy all life on Earth and ecology will start over again. This is the lunar force governing life through the water cycle on Earth - and so it is the quasi-crystal state of water that has been revealed as a sonofusion energy, an acoustic cavitation via ultrasound that creates then a hotter than the sun laser energy for alchemical transmutations. The inner ear of modern humans is activated by the vagus nerve and connects to the third eye pineal gland as the theta REM visionary state - but the inner ear used to be the jaw bone of our ancestors when we lived in trees - as tree shrews. And so the inner ear activated by inner sound infinite energy focus - as a listening process - is the secret of the "inner smile" activation of the third eye energy. And so then the holographic visionary dream state reality is actually a 2-dimensional energy that bypasses the fake 3-D bifocal vision focus of the materialistic "containment" of infinity by us modern humans. We originated in forests where listening was the dominant perception but as modern humans developed in the savannah we began to be dependent on the depth perception from the bifocal vision of the two eyes, forgetting that the inner ear jaw bone of our forest origins activates the third eye visionary energy. And so it is not that some previous enlightened shamans recreated life on Earth or that God is recreating ecology in rapid time right now - but rather there is an impersonal infinite process of harmony of lunar/earth/solar energy that is eternally being activated here. We lost touch with it but the destruction of ecology and social harmony on Earth is actually an impersonal cycling of the elements that we are just a part of - in terms of a great energy dynamic. What remains consistent in the whole process is precisely this larger cycling of energy and energy creation - as the formless impersonal dynamic of complementary opposites from the Cosmic Mother or the Emptiness as the Wu Chi - it is inherently female as the water element is inherently the lunar pivot that resonates from its source, the first materialistic manifestation of the infinite consciousness-energy that can not be seen. It can only be listened to - and so as Ramana Maharshi said - it is Mouna Samadhi - it can not be a vision in spacetime at all. Instead of each human facing this truth existentially through our deaths and our energy training that transcends death - humanity as a whole is now facing it but the deeper truth has long since been buried in our distant path.

While I agree with the sentiment that being and working through our energetic being is the most fundamental thing, I feel that this can't happen on a grand scale unless we remove the need for... well "need". Like, for example, if we train qigong to never need to eat at all, how do you think that will change the psyche of the people doing it? Will they continue a freedom fight when they have realized that the freedom that they are fighting for has already entered their beings? This is why I look at arguments like, "If there are ascended masters, why aren't they helping everyone?" For what reason would they? They have attained a perspective that perhaps far supersedes a need to enforce "enlightenment" on people, which is where current "lightworkers" stand in the general community of such people. For all I know, the Earth has been destroyed countless times, only to have a Toaist Wizard, a Hindu siddha, a Native American dream shaman, a European Rune master, or an African witch doctor reform the prior existence as if nothing happened. Would you or I have any clue that happened? Nope, and yet people who are not at that level, even if they have read and studied systems that hold that potential, are stuck in "freedom-fight" or "save-the-world" modes, completely ignoring that this is the potential afforded to human beings. Despite us here practicing Qigong, Yoga, or other systems of primordial advancement, we are still in a mode of dependence on things that, if we just attained the heights of these systems ourselves, would completely lose their importance to us. What need is there for government in a human race that has realized it's primordial self in a tangible, consistent way? So I do agree that cultivating the awareness and use of our infinite primordial being is indeed the way. However, I would add that if that is the case, then a lot of things that we have come to depend on will drop into obscurity, if not being completely eradicated from our personal life templates.

You've been living in a dream world, Neo.

There was a short silence, Lao Tzu said nothing so Chuang Tzu continued: Perfect Knowledge Sees All In One Perfect knowledge sees all in One. Small knowledge breaks down into the many. When the body sleeps without dream, the soul is enfolded in One. When the body wakes, the senses begin to function. They resound with every encounter with all the varied business of life, the strivings of the heart; men are blocked, perplexed, lost in doubt. Little fears eat away their peace of heart. Great fears swallow them whole. Arrows shot at a target. Hit and miss, right and wrong; that is what men call judgement, decision. Their pronouncements are as final as treaties between emperors. Out of their crooked mouths, words are retched up like vomit. O, they make their point! Yet their arguments fall faster and feebler than dead leaves in autumn and winter. Their words flow out like piss, never to be recovered. They stand at last, blocked, bound, and gagged, choked up like old drain pipes. The mind fails. It shall not see light again. Pleasure and rage, sadness and joy, hopes and regrets, change and stability, weakness and decision, impatience and sloth; all are sounds from the same flute, all mushroom from the same wet mold. Day and night follow one another and come upon us without our seeing how they sprout! Enough! Enough! Early and late we meet the “that” from which “these” all grow! If there were no “that” there would be no “this.” If there were no “this” there would be nothing for all these winds to play on. So far we can go, but how shall we understand what brings it about? One may well suppose a True Governor to be behind it all. That such a power works I can believe. I cannot see it’s form. It acts but has no form.

Best wishes with your practice, I hope things work out for you, have you looked at http://www.alchemicaltaoism.com/ ? Great stuff there from Trunk and I'd really like to quote this The strange thing that happened to me with nocturnals was I actually started to recognize the sensations of an approaching EJ when dreaming. After a while Icould actually wake up from the dream in time to practice retention. This was less succesfull in dreams that were not overtly sexual and sometimes the dream wasn't remembered at all. You mention developing power which is why I wanted to use the "cycle" quote above. While I don't specifically practice retention I do seem to be moving towards wanting less EJ, could be to do with age (35) I notice that when things go espicially well with practice retention is very natural. But when things get out of balance retention can be impossible untill that excess energy is spent, things settle back down, and you start to build again. So please don't be disappointed by this if it happens. The body is quite clever and knows what to do if we can stop interfering long enough for it to heal itself

There's a lot of perspectives to it, and while some things can go one way, I can say that these things are not written in stone by any stretch of the means. I mean, when it comes to rich people, the ones I know rarely give two fucks about being spiritual hahaha, although to be honest I would consider them more "spiritual" than most just because they tend to be a lot more honest than normal people. I've started to hate the word spiritual, because there's so many ridiculous archetypes around it that it honestly gets in the way of what the experience of your primordial self can be. So while I don't see them being "spiritual", they might just be more advanced because there's a degree of self-awareness that doesn't happen with normal human interaction. The reason I am not a fan of pop-"spirituality" is because it is something that is little better than masturbating in front of porn. Like, in comparing it to mass murder, on the surface the yoga craze seems like a better alternative. However, the very fact that people are spending their time doing insubstantial things like that, sitting around emulating their idea of a Yogi without even knowing what they are doing... this energy that they put into that allows for this mass-murder to go down. This is especially the case in the US, where the people doing this pop-yoga are residents and monetary supporters of the country doing a high percentage of the global mass murder. These same types are also likely to be "protestors", hating on companies like Monsanto. But instead of learning things that would make Monsanto powerless like growing one's own food, they're doing "Yoga"... for real?? Now I won't hate on the folks facilitating the yoga craze, these guys are genius!! But to me it reflects what has been the case for humans throughout history: individuals lacking the ability to explore and push things based on their own investigation. Anyone with half an ounce of personal trust in themselves would easily find that modernized yoga calisthenics is quite a bit empty in comparison to traditional practice. Yet, cats are following the craze, without giving a damn, because some cute female in tight pants is doing something that looks like ballet. Throw in some "spiritual" music, maybe a beach or a waterfall in the background, and for some added measure, throw in some accolades that sound important... boom. It's not that hard to do, and it's been going down for as long a humans have been alive. So for me, the fact that people are doing such insubstantial things is directly related to the mass murder. Governments are doing it by themselves, they get their money, manpower, and consent from the people they govern. Hell, if folks really wanted to protest, just don't go to work for a week. Just do that, and the entire system would shut down. But that's just too easy, and the idea that we could solve all our problems that simply... it's too hard for folks to jar outta that. So they do "yoga", and they can say to themselves "I did something important", not even knowing what it is they even did. Someone else told them the yoga was important... I know so many pop-yogis who can do all these poses, and yet with all that practice, I can reach that level in a week. I mean... I can't get what that hahaha. That's goofy to me, and I would rather recommend gettin' drunk at the club than putting in all that work for nothing. As for siddhis... again, it's really about perspective. In my mind, the idea of selflessness is a pipe-dream and equally reflects the separation paradigm that people live in. I point out that Yoga is a Hindu-based philosophy, though people can use the techniques for other things. Nevertheless, philosophies that we see from Indian Yoga are based on Hindu ideals, and as such, their is religious influence that is specific to those ideals. As such, there was this entire idea of not being "selfish", doing good will to others and never thinking of the self. But who dictates the good will, and why do these things for others? The reasons for these acts are completely selfish, and the ideology comes from things dictated by the self or prioritized by the ideals of the self. Erasing bad karma... slefish. Unifying with "The One"... selfish. Eradicating ego... selfish and UBER-egotistical. I mean I can't think of a more egotistical ideal than eradicating ego... "I will ascend so far beyond worldly constraints, that I will annihilate y own self-identity." How high on yourself do you gotta be to think something like that hahaha?!?!?! I'm not knocking that, I think it's awesome. But as for it being "holy" "Noble" or more "enlightened" than hittin' a bong... can't say that it is. And it shouldn't have to be, we are talking about an essential nature that is limitless. Even the idea of responsibility... who are you being responsible for? Who says you have to clean up the energy around you, and who says that your idea of clean is actually what "clean" is? A lot of my friends used to always tell me that I should be a motivational speaker, a preacher, a teacher. They said this because they said I was smart and that I could express myself well vocally. So I felt that with that skill, I should be "helping" people out, because I had a way of speaking to people that no one else could. However, I noticed that this "power", when I focused on others, somehow always created worse situations when I actually used it to try and "help" my friends. My critical nature, no matter how sweet it was delivered, got people pissed, angry, and hostile, all because I was trying to help them change. And they would ask me to do it... "Enoch, you like my best friend dawg. I can't even tell my fam'ly dis shit, na'mean? You like my mentor bro." Some people flat-out told me to help them in that way, and yet... When turned on myself, however, I realized so much that I changed a multitude of things. If I tried "helping others" with it, there was always a great deal of contention that often led to both the person and myself being worse off than before. But when I could turn my powers of expression, thought, criticism, and investigation on myself... my ability to help others became natural. I didn't even know i helped folks, but I did. Now this power is something that normal humans can attain, and yet most don't. However, more importantly, it's no lesser a power that flying, becoming invisible, or anything of that nature. So how is it that using these powers for yourself is "bad"? These are ideals based on observations that were realized by humans who, despite being capable, still had a ridiculous amount of faults. Should people use their abilities wisely? Yes, that is without question. But there is literally no difference between using the power of walking dumb and using the power of mind control dumb. It might be a bit easier to cause perceived mass problems with a siddhi, but walking can cause a mass problem itself. If you walk out onto a busy street in the middle of rush hour, you could cause a traffic accident of monumental proportions. I know folks with certain siddhis, and I would describe them as selfish. However, they are peaceful people, they don't show off, they naturally are a gift to folks around them, and they often don't have the hang-ups that many of us have. This includes possessing a savior complex with their abilities, because, as I was told by one of these "advanced" people (she's 89), "If you accept your own divinity, and the choices it offers you, then you have to respect others as well. They have just as much a choice as you do and did when you started your path. It would be very disrespectful to throw your path into theirs if they do not willingly invite you, even if you think they need your ideas." Even ideas of oneness... this is an idea. We aren't one, because one is a concept. What we are a "part" of transcends any concept whatsoever, even though we are unified, we are all completely sovereign. This concept cannot be reconciled by a dualistic mind, so we describe unity as being "one" and anything that is done in a sovereign manner is "separate". Yet, if this was so important, how come none of ever see all these siddhi masters coming out to "save" the world? Perhaps there's more to it than we can read or conceptualize. That last statement above also applies to me, so don't mind my ranting, I'm just talkin' my stuff. I just don't buy a lot of the archetypal ideals we come up with, because they are all part of the very "Matrix" code we are using these techniques to free ourselves from, I don't want to be a Jedi, they were extremely ineffective and we equally as war-mongering as the Sith. I want self-realization and liberation to be myself completely, and I see myself being intrinsically tied to the limitlessness. That's what I feel the point is, realizing the Complete Self, not destroying the Self. Humans just so harshly define themselves by their current consciousness, that any expansion beyond that ideal is considered "annihilation of the self". But the destruction of "self", or I should say dependence on it, gives way to living as the "Self", which is everything and nothing. It doesn't surprise me that even with my views on Yogic philosophy, that Yogis can still recognize their "Selves" with those techniques and ideas. Many others do without any of those techniques utilizing other philosophies that can sound just ad flowery and holy, or philosophies that can sound evil. At the root though... it's just some shit. No idea being more intrinsically real than another, no matter how "sound" it sounds. As the folks would say, "Just do you."

I would agree with perceiver here, many folks like talking about destroying ego, and yet don't acknowledge that the idea of destroying ego is perhaps one of the most egotistical ideals a person can think of. "I'm going to transcend so high, that I annihilate my own 'personal identity'." So that the notion of destroying ego is somehow enlightenment because it is a notion of destroying ego... a little shortsighted to say the least. However, I do feel that you (the OP) shouldn't fret too much about this. You haven't lost anything, just photos. If you want to retrieve the memories that are represented in those photos, you got a lot of options that could easily be more useful than photos. Learn to lucid dream or astral project... you wouldn't even have to rely on still-photos. You could relive the entire scenario if you wanted, and this practice in itself is often used as an "enlightenment" vehicle. You get a chance to perhaps revisit things that were traumatic, and free yourself of the trapped force that went into those things. Hell, even with "good" memories, you might find that there was something you missed in those that you could relive and release anything that might've been negative or unsavory with those experiences. It's not the end of the world, and you haven't lost anything. But it wasn't necessarily "needed" in order to transcend anything, unless that's the only way you know how. Primordial exploration favors creativity over dogmatic doctrine any day of the week .

I don't know if you've ever lived in the city, but what you are saying is a bit farfetched at best. By no circumstance are cities less racist, you just find yourself being more politically correct. Not calling someone a nigger or a spic does not mean you are not racist, it just means you don't use offensive language. But look at a city like Chicago, and it is easily one of the most naturally segregated places on Earth. Just because you go to school and work with other races or ethnicities doesn't mean you live in a less racist environment. I went to high school where at least 30% of the white students never, and I mean NEVER, went to school with anyone but white people. Now I'm not saying that's the norm, but this is something that many people would consider outrageous, especially for a person living in Chicago their whole life. But that is definitely the case, and it was so bad that a person honestly thought that I might have family members who had bones through their noses just because I was black. She honestly was confused, and not just her but several white wondered the same thing, and despite me wanting to be mad, I honestly couldn't be because there was no malice behind it. But it's still racist as hell, it's just a natural consequence of ignorance. The only places I have lived consistently, besides Champaign, IL, were cities. New York, LA, Miami... I've been to all these places and lived for over a year there. Trust me, this idea of cultural bustling, mutliculturalism, diversity... extremely surface level ideas. So what if you take a professional yoga class... man most of these classes aren't even good for covering the asanas beyond "working out". Have you been to the "spiritual" shops in these places? They're goofy as hell, but they look real chic and hip and "mystical". I have met people who were legit, but they were near hermits who could probably live anywhere and thrive. The stuff is very vibrant on the surface, but there is an extreme lack of depth that goes on in the city when it comes to things of that nature, or anything. Cities, because of their compact nature, are also extremely susceptible to groupthink, and the scrutiny that you are imagining goes down is far less powerful than you would think. Again, being a part of several of these groups, I was often kicked out because of deep scrutiny that was not "in line with the group", and it also helps to point out that many of these cultural flings that people are identifying are actually 7th or 8th attempts at something that started and died. So the depth is not very strong because what was started never had the backbone to stand right. I know all these type of people, I have lived with them, and I have had them all come to me for advice like I was "advanced". The only reason I could possibly think why a person would be asking me for advice, regardless of their skill levels being way higher in spiritual exploration, health practice, academics, is because I have naturally always spent a great deal of my time in self-reflection, while it seems to be a lost art for city dwellers. That's the problem, cities have so much shit there that people often have no time for inner reflection, which means they can't really absorb too much of all this stuff they are exposed to. Who cares about going to a museum if it has no effect on your personal being, who cares about any of that stuff beyond it being a "break" to life? This is when you get beyond the surface and get to know what people are actually thinking and feeling, and it's not healthy with city folks. Hey, I can say the same for more rural people, as Champaign had it's share of problems. But there was also a lot more space, a lot more open room to do things quietly, and if you got tired of clubbing and drinking (I went to college there), you could actually think without hearing a whole bunch of noise. You don't have as much to occupy yourself with, so if you wanted to do some spiritual investigation, and were honest about it, I have experienced that it was a lot easier when the places got more rural. Now Champaign isn't deep country, but in comparison to Chicago, it is. I also experienced more blatant racism there, but in actuality the honesty of it, rather than substituting political correctness as a sign of "progress" actually made those folks easy to be around. And despite city dwellers perhaps being more capable of mouthing off fancy language, as far as intelligence is concerned... yea dude, not very much difference at all. This is the thing, I feel that romanticism on either end, for urbanism or ruralism, has got to stop so folks can actually honestly investigate things. However, this is not easy to do if you are first and foremost honest with yourself, which is a lost art amongst human beings. So all these "save the world" solutions... they are useless with that skill. I would like to live in a cave or the wilderness, but I already know that there a high likelihood that I am severely unprepared for that. I don't know how to communicate with animals, with plants, or with the several force currents in the world. Since I don't want to make the same mistakes that people did in the past, I'm not going to mentally masturbate on that dream like, "OH, the glories of the wild!!" Right now, those glories would probably be disasters for me. I just try to do the best with what I got now, and move toward that goal despite not being in a situation I think is ideal. I also leave a LOT of room for changing my thoughts, because I am convinced that ideals are based on a person, not a situation. Like I said with those city hermits who were legit, anywhere they were was an ideal, perhaps even outer space. All these worldviews are distractions, in my mind, that keep people thinking about others rather than working on themselves.

This is a question only you can answer. You almost certainly will never learn it from another's philosophy, and while Tolle may have some techniques that are useful... try not to overanalyze something. If you got an idea, any idea, on how to do something, try it first, give it some earnest investment, and then see if it works. I cannot tell of the literal THOUSANDS of ideas I thought of in my teens that I never actually did myself. How silly do you think I felt when I came to read these various ideas and techniques in other books 5 or 6 years after I first thought it? While I respect many people who come into the arena of exploring human potential, I wouldn't let their words keep me from exploring myself how I feel. Tolle might say something that sounds true, but the question is whether or not that truth means anything to you? Just because it is a nice sounding theory doesn't mean it has anything to do with you. I mean, you said here yourself that you want a physical experience with your body... why on Earth would you care about non-dualism? I would personally disagree that love has to be balanced by hate, or in the idea that something must have it's opposite. Love is love, hate is hate, and an apple is an apple. That they seem opposite is completely based on observation, many people find themselves easily able to continuously feel good about themselves without ever having to address something like hate. But that's not the point, the point is that if you are interested in just being a physical being. why commit to teachings that would have you supersede a dualistic experience, which is the primary human paradigm of the time? But if any of us were cool with who we were right now, would we even be here? I feel it's ok to want to create something new for yourself, and it's ok to say, "Alright, I don't like this about myself. I'm going to change it." If you wake up with stinky breath, you get to the bathroom and brush your teeth. If you are musty in the armpits, you go to the shower and, perhaps, apply some deodorant liberally. If you are hungry, you eat. There's nothing wrong with that, and hell if you don't do many of these things, life turns out screwy for you. I know plenty of people who should not be in relationships because they haven't been critical enough with themselves, and they invite new children, which they birth, into a mess they didn't pay enough attention to. So how can wanting to improve be so wrong when people make ridiculous errors because they become ignorant of themselves and possible flaws? I'm not saying anything is wrong here, but rather saying that there is something you gotta find out by being true to what you feel. If you feel like you gotta approve, don't go read someone who doesn't know you and look to them as if they should have an answer to what you should do in life. Listen to yourself, and like you said, don't "put things between you and your desire". You are interested in things like Shamanic journeying, astral projection, lucid dreaming... go do those things. Don't read some philosopher who would honestly have you not pursue anything like that, why wrack your brain like that? But hell, if you want to lucid dream, or at least do it consistently, then you gotta be able to say, "I haven't garnered a skill for this before, I'm going to do it now." If you just BE, which many of us can't even get beyond our own brain to do (and I would bet Tolle is also in that group), then you shouldn't want that either. But if you honestly do, then go ahead and do that, and if you think that being in a relationship now is not a good idea, chances are it isn't. It's not really that hard, but trusting yourself is the way of "Being" that most people never get to doing. Tolle himself wouldn't have written that book if he had just "been", so you know... do you man.

This might not be something that is popular, but perhaps you might be too reliant on cultivating in a manner that does not fit you. I'm from a background where the Torah was something that was big in my life. With all the spiritual masters there, I noticed one thing that was consistent with them: they cultivated first, then built their lives upon that foundation. Abraham was the son of a deity-maker, which anyone with a background in egregores knows requires pretty skilled spiritual training. He also trained with the immortal King of Salem Melchizedek for, I don't know, 40 years, which is where he learned alchemy. The guy practically spent his whole life cultivating and trained in spiritual disciplines, which was something that got passed down from generation to generation. What I am getting at is that most people here are getting to cultivation AFTER they set up lifestyles for themselves. In the modern world, many of these foundations are very much counterproductive to the foundation principles set forth by ancient people. Problem is, the foundation of your life at the time of gaining cultivation is likely to have a strong grip on how to prioritize things. So if you got these strong priority parameters, and you try to introduce a new set of parameters that contradict the old ones... that's gonna be a pretty tough battle that can cause more strife than it solves. So that's why you see people throwing away their old lives for the sake of cultivation. Although it's been aggrandized in many forms as being "holy", there's a far more practical function that doesn't necessitate the religious aura that influences many spiritual teachings. Practically speaking, if you got your head in parameters that you constantly gotta battle in not just the mind, but also in the environment, you can really sabotage your work... at least with these old ways of cultivation. The thing is, despite all these teachings we have, the fact is that the origins of these practices came from people on roads to self-discovery who were really just making stuff up as they go along. Why do you think that one system can drastically differ from another? The world has become somewhat enamored with the East because the archetypes of holiness and spirituality are stereotypically associated with that region. So everyone who is "spiritual" is rather practicing something from Buddhism, Taoism, or Hinduism; things like Yoga, Qigong, and various meditations inspired from these regions. But there's WAY more out there than just these disciplines, and way different ways of approaching the same end that may not require holding to priorities from those cultures. I've had some of the best experiences with dream shamans and dreamwork. I thought myself "cool" talking to these folks because I could spit all this jargon about Eastern theories and methods. I thought, "these are powerful people (they somewhat held a degree of plasticity with reality that would normally be characterized as "miraculous"), surely they know of the importance of cleansing chakras!" Much to my surprise, these are people who never consciously cared about their chakras at all, in fact they had no knowledge of ANY Eastern esoteric anatomy. Moreover, when I found out how they went about their practice, there were two things I noticed: 1) They talked about techniques I never heard of before and 2) No 2 dreamworkers went about their cultivation in the same fashion, aside from maybe their beginning work in consistently having conscious dreams. I realized that these guys were rambunctiously making shit up, in fact it almost seemed like it was too easy to be real. And yet, these were are people that demonstrated some ridiculous control over their primordial potentials, even though you would never know that they did. It also came to note that they did this rather quickly, even though they all had jobs and a pretty "regular" life. The point of the story is this: You might have to find a way of doing things that is all about you, perhaps something that you don't even know exists because you just made the shit up. If you find yourself clashing to a point of being inconsistent and off kilter, and the conflict creates more tension than you honestly feel it's worth... maybe that shit's not for you. Maybe the priority parameters of that practice aren't ones that are applicable to you, and perhaps they don't mean shit aside from the people whom they should mean something to. Maybe instead of a cultivation practice that is hard, time-intensive, and perhaps even personally taxing, you find something that is easy, fun, and continuously enlivening. Most people might not think that is possible, and maybe a practice that is easy is not for you. What I am saying though is consider that the cultivation you are looking for might be something that you have to come up with through your own ingenuity, and your own self-trust that what you conceive can work.

this is awesome. such a great analogy. Buddha truly was an amazing teacher -- You might think that because samsara is like a dream, perhaps enlightenment is solid and permanent. But Shakyamuni Buddha said that nirvana itself is like a dream -- an illusion. There is nothing that can be named which is nirvana; nothing called nirvana which is tangible. Shakyamuni Buddha said this directly: "Form is emptiness". For instance, the moon is reflected in water, but there is no moon in the water; there never has been! There is no form there that can be grasped! It is empty! Then Shakyamuni Buddha went on to say: "Emptiness itself is form". Emptiness itself has appeared in the manner of form. You cannot find emptiness apart from form. You cannot separate the two. You cannot grasp them as separate entities. The moon is reflected in the water, but the water is not the moon. The moon is not the water, yet you cannot separate water and moon. Once you have understood this at the level of experience, there is no samsara. In the realm of realization there is no samsara or nirvana! When speaking of the teaching of Dzogchen, samsara and nirvana are just another dualistic concept. But when looking at this moon in the water, you may say: "But it is there, I can see it!" But when you reach for it and try to touch it -- it's not there! It is the same with the thoughts that arise in Mind. So if you ask: "How has this actually come about?" you need to consider that everything comes from interdependent origination. So what is this interdependent origination? It is simply that the moon and water do not exist separately. The clear water is the primary cause, and the moon is the secondary or contributory cause. When these two causes meet, then this interdependent origination manifests. It is the coincidental appearance of the primary cause and the contributory cause. http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/A...c%20Ngondro.htm oh man, that quote from Dalai lama was great..