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I am just trying to be rational here, I've never seen or heard of an over unity device that wasn't a fraud. Remember steorn's orbo? Fraud. Just about every free energy device that has been put to the test turned out to be a fraud, or didn't work. Now you can dream up crazy conspiracy theories for why there aren't plans for functional prototypes being shared or home brew devices powering homes and businesses all day but frankly it's getting old man. And it's a little silly I think to be honest. I am willing to entertain that maybe these technologies are being suppressed, even so it's irrelevant. The facts are, we haven't seen any free energy proven repeatedly to work, and been independently reviewed to work. Even if they aren't being independently reviewed because they are being suppressed by the government, or corporations, or Illuminati or lizard people is irrelevant. We do have a technology that was proven to work that solves our energy problems for thousands of years. All we have to do is make everyone aware of it, get people angry enough to yell at their representatives every day, and protest in droves and eventually we will have it. Free energy, over unity, ZPE or whatever else is most likely just fraud, I don't care who you have lecturing on how real it is, until they get their heads out of the sand and deliver some functional demo units in mass to engineers and scientists world wide it's BS as far as I am concerned.

No problem, I made this thread on my smartphone so I tried to type the least possible. I was living in Florida (I had been living there for the past 10 years) and I was planning on relocating to where I currently live (Massachusetts) to get a job working with my uncle (where I work now). While living in Florida I had a dream in great detail of what it looks like inside the building I currently work at which I have never in my life seen/been inside before. I realized this while at work I just got a kind of "click" and that was proceeded by a mental holy shit when I noticed I had dreamt of the same exact scenario/place in my dream many months beforehand. This also happened to me when I was in 2nd-3rd grade (I cannot recall exactly which grade it was). I had a dream of some girl I had a crush on giving some sort of speech at class and a week or two later she did exactly that when she was called up to the front of class to receive her report card.

No, but as someone who is skeptical of all such experiences (even when they happen to me), I would just like to present a line of questioning that you may or may not like to follow further (sorry for bugging you if you've already done this), but what kind of situations did you dream up, and what actually came to pass? For instance, if you are worried about your job shutting down or lots of people getting fired, and then it happens, well, look at the economy. What are the chances of that event happening, how likely is it that it occurred merely in concurrence with your own probability calculations for the future? Was the event spectacular or singularly surprising in any way, or is it an otherwise likely occurrence, it just happened to happen to you or people you know? Etc etc etc.

I have on several occasions dreamt of something only for it to later happen on real life. The last dream I had like this was a few month maybe even years ago and it was of my current place of employment well before I had ever found anything out about it. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

There are many Sutras that are considered the summation of all Buddhist thought, it just depends on your school. There's the Lotus Sutra, the Prajnaparamitahridaya Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, lots of them that are considered as such. Obviously from your dream and connection, this one is worth studying for you.

Ahh yes, I'm glad you pointed this out; this notion is truly so important... in contrast to rational identification, the automatic, faulty action of the computer-like illusory ego mind sees another and instantaneously judges and compares he or she in various contexts... initially and predominantly that of general superiority or inferiority, "am I better or worse?" often based on superficial and ultimately meaningless aspects such as physical appearance; attractiveness, height, weight, race, age, gender... though the ego knows no bounds as it constantly attempts to fill the void of infinity with self-serving and narcissistic affirmation, though this void can only truly be filled with union with the Tao, infinity itself; how else could one hope to appease an insatiable desire to experience infinity.. through the ego? Infinite suffering instead of infinite love and bliss, ceaseless desiring and greed of superficial status, materialism, drama, superiority, fame and all its decadence... Living as a slave to ego, one is molded by life rather than molding life oneself, reacting instead of acting.... always victim to external circumstance. What if one were mentally trained to see all others as himself? Or even seeing life as just the dream it truly is? What to judge then? The old adage, treat others as you yourself would want to be treated... truth lies therein, in that you are more connected to other people than one might ever know, and it is embracing this connection that allows one to further unify with the Tao, rather than excluding oneself from society, being a recluse, pariah, as if spiritual evolution were only possible in the populace-less confines of the mountains... this is just social fear manifest, subconscious aversion of relationships masked by a practical ruse of training regiment, a guise of dedication to avoid having to encounter those that may judge you, or whom you may judge... but true spiritual development seeks challenge, obstacles in that in order to grow, one must face and conquer his fears and alchemically transform that negative energy to a positive, higher vibrational frequency; through love, by love, for love, to love... the greatest power in the universe, the eternal force behind all creation.. ubiquitous, unconditional, all-pervading...love... therein lies the answer.

I'm not sure what you mean by "flesh". As for how deep, well, see if you can stop believing in gravity. I think if you examine one of your beliefs from time to time, eventually you'll get a sense to how committed you are to it. Try to imagine how your life would be different if you didn't believe it, or believed something different. Well, I was using Todd's word. It's a cool word, but I normally don't talk like that. Normally I would use the word "commit" or "vest". So we vest into our beliefs, or commit to them. As for how exactly, this is best answered in practice. You can try to pick some kind of relatively insignificant and non-contradictory belief, something that you think should be easy to get yourself to believe. It may be a good idea, while you are at it, to pick a belief that is relatively positive and helpful. Then affirm this belief as if you already believe it. At first you'll feel like you're lying to yourself. As you do this, visualize yourself as if you already believe it in your mind's eye. Then each time you affirm your new belief, you might feel like it's less of a lie. This will be true if you're accepting it. If you're not accepting it, then there is no point in forcing yourself. There may be a good reason for non-acceptance. But either way you'll get your answer. You'll see if beliefs are easy to change or not. Whatever you do, the most important thing is to always be honest to yourself. If your beliefs are changing, you'll feel it very clearly. So there is no need to pretend. If your beliefs don't change in this type of exercise, that's valid. So I just described how to acquire a new belief. It's also useful to disempower certain beliefs, such as those beliefs that are holding you back in an way that you consider reasonably unhealthy. To disempower a belief, you'd have to bring it up for examination in your mind's eye. Examine the effects this belief is having on your life. The imagine what your life would be like if you believe something different. Then you may ask yourself is this belief is absolutely necessary? If it has some positive function, can that same function be served by a healthier belief? So when you start to question a thorny belief in this way, eventually it will at least weaken. The key in this process is to always be sincere before yourself. Pretending is a dangerous game when we pretend to ourselves. All beliefs can be changed in a sincere way. So there is no point in pretending. Beliefs can change authentically as a result of an honest change of heart during an honest conversation with yourself, or silent introspection, or during a dream or during an even stranger or more mundane occurrence. It's not a good idea to make anything I say here into some kind of rote practice. If your life is good, don't mess around with your beliefs. If there is a pain point somewhere, then it may be worthwhile to investigate beliefs around the pain point. Sometimes you may also find that some types of pain are not something you will want to eliminate, because you'll realize that to eliminate certain types of pain you'd have to change your beliefs in such a way as to shock your conscience. In cases like these you may choose to purposefully let pain be painful.

Yes dreams can definitely help us on our paths but when interpreting them we have a real tendency to color them or make what we want them to mean. If you are looking at a dream always remain conscious of what you are desiring from it. What makes you excited about the dream? What are you expecting and so anxious about finding? Detach from that and look at it from another point of view. I find it interesting that not only was the head of the buddha detached, but the head was actually standing in your way of finding true knowledge.

I'm a big fan of dreams, especially the particularly vivid or strange. As Sloppy says, most is jibberish that people read to much into. I think that this dream tells you of a previous connection with the Dharma, and it is auspicious, and that you can continue reading sutras to see if anything affects you in the same way. Maybe the head off the Buddha is an admonition to stay out of your head, not use your intellect so much. I had a strange dream last night because I was trying to lock my mind onto a certain deity at night as I drifted to sleep ( always meditate before sleeping) , but after I drifted on to dreamland. I dreamt that there was this Chinese dude next to me and he was poking a finger into my plexus, and I was complaining, dont poke so hard and I woke myself up from it due to the pain or my whining.

Those weren't your only choices you know I wasn't looking for you to pick any answers. But, IMHO, those are the lines of questioning that you should look at when examining a dream and understanding it's impact. It's far more reliable than trying to decipher symbolism which changes from culture to culture, era to era, and person to person. Anyway, dreams are fun

Dreams are tricky. I've been doing lucid dream work for close to 10 years now (had done it on and off as a kid, then I learned it had a name, that's when I really got into it). The past five years I've been keeping serious, daily dream journals. At first hand written, but whet it started taking me nearly three hours to hand write 6-8 pages, I started to type them. And honestly- most dreams are gunk. Crap. Mental junk. Projections, hopes, fears. Most dreams that aren't just crap are only MOSTLY crap. You might get a little bit of "higher" stuff, but it's so mixed in with your hopes and fears and other crap that the message is so distorted that it's useless, and you really don't even recognize it. Dreams that have meaning, I do believe, will smack you in the face. If you have to ask if it has meaning, if you have to ask if you're receiving a message from beyond, then you probably didn't get one. Chances are better that it's just you projecting what you HOPE a message will be. "An angel came down from on high and told me it was my higher self". Uh huh. Sure it did. Every ritual and process from every traditions that's more than 200 years old that I've come across shows such an event as demanding a LIFETIME commitment and a SERIOUS physical/spiritual event, and you think that it just floated down to you? But it helps you sleep at night, so there you are. A tried a stint as a dream interpreter at a couple of forums, but I didn't take all jobs, either because I wasn't feeling anything from it, I couldn't read it well, it was too individual specific, or I just thought it was gunk. Many people focus on the symbols, the visual, when interpreting dreams. I don't like that. Symbols are too individual. Roses mean love? Unless your fiance dropped off roses when they called it off to run off with their local bartender. Roses ain't so rosy. Also, don't be so quick to jump to the past incarnation conclusion. It's far more likely that they are just deeply rooted impressions. For instance, I felt drawn to the military for a long time (still do). A palm reader said I was in the military in a past life. Then my mom discovered some of my old baby pictures. There I was as a two year old dressed as G.I. Joe I noticed a lot of visual imagery in your post. Very descriptive. But really, it's just scenery. I tend to home in on emotions and reactions that people have- they are far more telling about what a dream meant to that individual. When you entered the area- how did you feel? Were you comfortable? Excited? At home? What did you think when you saw the severed head? Repulsed? Intrigued? Indifferent? Were you excited when you read the book? And so on. If nothing jumps out at you, and you just felt neutral, all I've got to say it was a nice dream, I hope you enjoyed it, you really want to get your hands on that sutra. Hope you do and you enjoy it And for the vividness- of course, it's a fond memory. But be careful about remembering "more as the day goes on". I can't tell you how many times I've sat to reread my dream journal thinking "oh, I remember this dream, I jump off the high dive next", only to get to the next paragraph that reads "then my giraffe friend said hi and we ate bananas". Memory DOES get distorted over time. Good and bad. Which is why I highly suggest, if ever you get into a situation which might involve legal troubles or a testimony or having to talk to the cops, write EVERYTHING down AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Thoughts and impressions to. They can and WILL warp, and, God forbid, they can BE WARPED by others.

This is something that I've thought since I had the dream. Maybe a connection to previous incarnations. The weird thing is that the clarity of the dream did not fade as the day wore on, as usually does with dreams. As the hours passed I seemed to remember more.

See this is subjective and you've created a personal dogma around it. In my experience, the more I do the ritual, the more juicy it gets, the more filled with rasa. In fact, it's in the beginning that it feels dry, but as I relax into it, and my focus gets better... it gets' juicier and juicier over the years and not dryer at all. So, due to my own experience as well as plenty of other peoples experience who actually practice a traditional path, there is not an agreement with you. I'm sorry but you are wrong. It has everything to do with your biased opinion based upon your lack of experience with opening up to a living tradition. You might have thought you did for a while there, but because you think this way, doesn't mean that's how it happens for the rest of us who have a living tradition and Guru. The Guru teaches one how to exercise the mind and find ones own power. You're going to say, blah, blah, blah. But for instance someone like SereneBlue needs a Sangham, needs a teacher who lives from the space of deep inspiration, so that she can feel that energy and get it like osmosis. We are not separate individuals, so to enter a pool of liberation, helps one find ones own liberation, as it's not really ones own either. I know that you are wrong. I will say so over and over again too. You are wrong buddy. I think you need a Guru. That's such B.S. Most peoples inner teacher does lead them to lie, cheat, waste money on superficial things, most people are lost in the world of material gain. My Guru's have taught me the opposite, how to really find my inner Guru. This is only because I have the mind of a true student, who is open to learn and not criticizing everything calling it "Critical Thinking." See, but you are projecting your subjective experience onto those that didn't experience this. Sure, what you say happens, but it did not happen to me. I was not exploited, or asked to turn away from my self empowerment. In fact, I learned how to be more self empowered through the old rituals and teachings, and when my teachers spoke these teachings and were present for these rituals, they were ecstatic, coming from that space of inspiration, they were not dry words. The rituals are not dry at all... it's the person experiencing the dryness that's dry, and when you experience your inner dryness during a wet ritual, it's because you're too hard, you're not letting it in, you're shutting yourself off, and it's generally always because one is criticizing waaaaay too much that this happens and not actually doing the ritual. Your just there, but not really, you're just judging. A person is only an authority because that person actually is an authority. If a person is not an authority but acting like one, that's a false guru. But, since there are false guru's it follows that there are also true guru's. An authority can also be a good friend. In fact I consider my Gurus as my best friends, deep friends. In my waking and sleeping life, through dream and video, books and talks. I am more inspired by them than any other person I've ever met. Which is why I call them my root Guru's. I think your view is extreme and I don't think it will help everyone, maybe a few people, but I think these real Guru's, and these old traditions need to just get better and more in tune with the now, and they are! But, to throw the baby out with the bath water like you are suggesting is just a revelation of your biased opinion, based upon your own experience or lack there of. I do respect your ideal though, if everyone was indeed enlightened, we could just all be each others guru's and thus no ones guru, we'd all really be sharing from that open space. But, that's not the way the world is... this is not a heaven realm.

Jack, Laugh if you want, but it's true. I try to be open to other ideas, but in the same way I don't care to be told I'm wrong, you don't seem to care for that either. I don't care to have my experiences trivialized, you don't either. Since we began talking about a month ago I have a read more on Buddhism, Mahayana and Theravada than I have in the entire time I've studied Eastern Religions. I may be obstinate, but I try very hard to humble myself, to remind myself that I don't know everything. As Vaj commented earlier, I was saying the exact same thing you've been saying, except I wasn't saying it the same way. The more I learn about Buddhism, the more I understand that my beliefs aren't so far off from what Buddha taught. I understand that my experiences have only touched the surface, that I have further to go, but my point is that when we share our experiences as ultimates, as the final truths, sometimes we cut people off from understanding. I think we could all use a dose of humility. I am finding humility on a daily basis. I had to sell my car in order to pay rent. I took out a loan that I can't pay back, just to try and make ends meet. I have no job and I am having to earn money each day just to eat. This state has made me appreciate those things I took for granted, but it's also reminded me of suffering in very real way. I would love to have an end to suffering, but I have yet to see any real proof that what Buddhism has to offer in the end will really free me from it, rather I think it will only allow me to understand it in a greater way. Regardless I am practicing Zen and trying to remember that it is only this moment that's important, that if I lose everything, my cats, my family, and my home, that it's not the end, that those things do not define who I am as a person. My cup is not empty, but it's not full. I want to be open to new things. I think the worst thing a man can do is shut himself off to possibilities, because when he does that, he no longer has hope. I am finding an immense degree of peace knowing that it is more than just survival, that I am not the center of the universe, that I am not God, omniscient, that there is more to everything than I can ever dream of. I don't hate Buddhism, or Buddha, but I do hate ignorance, or at least the inability to accept that things aren't perfect. Even if Buddha's teachings were perfect, that doesn't mean that those who practice them today are. That doesn't mean that there isn't more than just Buddha's teachings, that someone else doesn't have something else to teach us. I love Vedanta, but I realize that it isn't the entirety of truth, that there is more. Buddha obviously did too. I loved Christianity, but I understand that it isn't the entirety of truth. My point is that I want to be open so I don't miss out on something that might come along and help me to understand who I am more clearly. I never want to get to the point where I say, "this is enough, I don't need anymore." I should have been more open to your Buddhist ideas, but I am forty one years old and I'm just not willing to spend the next twenty years practicing Buddhism alone under the pretense that it may be right. I just don't have the time for that. I have an immense respect for the religion and I honestly think that if all people practiced the eightfold path, that the world would be a much better place. These days I break that path down into one simple phrase, "treat all things as compassionately as possible." Will I always do this? No. I'm human and fallible, but if I commit to doing this, go into it with the idea that I will not try, but I will do, then I'm confident that I can make the world better for those around me, and that's what's really important, not easing my suffering but easing the suffering of others. So I apologize to you and to Cowtao for not being patient and not explaining my misgivings as I should have. I would not discourage you from practicing Buddhism, it's a beautiful religion. I would only say don't close your heart to other things. Be open to possibilities so that if one does come along you don't miss it. Aaron

Now that's a good dream! Take it as a sign to keep up the practice, that's for sure. Other interpretations? My Mom is good at that stuff... but, she's not here, so I won't go for it. It's your dream. I wish I wrote my dreams down like I used to. I'd suggest writing them down and re-reading them later, like years later. It's a good practice. I'd definitely read the Flower Garland Sutra, that's a good Sutra to dream about. I'll say this, it's a sure sign that your subconscious is deeply connected to the Dharma, based upon it's level of clarity and detail.

I don't think I have a divine gift of dream interpretation, but I tend to be able to sort out the symbols pretty well, sort of like interpreting poetry, usually with a degree of success or relevance. I would venture to guess that the understanding of the sutra left a tangible feeling.. this feeling, like Shen, was latently residing to be awakened by its illumination in the sutra. This feeling (perhaps related to "serenity, compassion, and wisdom"?__ qualities of enlightenment/The Buddha) was the seed of the scripture which had been planted. Thus, the Buddha had been broken, for the "statue" of the Buddha was unimportant in comparison to personal experience of The Dharma which will be your true guide [from time to time or when you've entirely devoted yourself to The Path(should you ever Detatch)]. That's my opinion... There's probably others.....

A most auspicious dream, Adept! Sure sign that your practice is moving in the right direction. It sounds so... blessed. Well done As for the interpretation, guess i'll leave that to someone who makes it their path to interpret dreams. I never pay too much attention to mine, cos i seem to have recurring themes in dreams all the time.

Greetings everyone. Recently I had a really vivid dream and wondered what it meant in regards to my study and practice. I have read only a little Huayen related literature, but what little I have read has left me absolutely gobsmacked by the sheer brilliance of this Way. I have a longing to read the Avatamsaka sutra but the large price tag of the book has stopped me from buying it. However, I have made a vow that sometime soon I would find a way to purchase this book. Now to my dream.... I found myself in an abandoned cave/temple complex in China. It was in ruins, and was damp, with moss covered rocks strewn all about. There was a large statue of the Buddha, but his head had somehow fallen from the body and it (the head) was lying sideways in the centre of the room. At the other end of the room was a stone plinth with some large leatherbound books on top of it. There were about a dozen books, all beautifully encased in black leather with the word "Avatamsaka'' embossed in gold on the front of each volume. I opened the book on top of the pile to find the most beautifully written sutra in red ink on thick moleskin paper. There was also a page by page commentary of the sutra. All of this was written in English. It's hard to describe, but I felt as I was reading, I immediately understood everything instantly. Then I woke up..... It was an extremely vivid dream. I actually thought I was there. I have been trying to understand the significance of it all. I really just don't know. Can dreams point us in the right direction and keep us from straying from the path ?

I also had quite strong trips on shrooms earlier. What you described is a peek into reality. My definition of reality here is something that cant be doubted. But now back in normal state, it is again imperceptible. What you are left with are fragment of memory of altered state. Dream re-continued with a confusing memory. Also as there are no individuals, there is no one to like or dislike. But Awareness of liking/disliking is there as pure affectivity. In dream, it will drive the dream to make dreamer like or dislike.

By unique and exist, I mean that other people have their own thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences, which in turn shape more thoughts, and feelings, and memories. I'd like to believe that there are ways that it feels like to be my girlfriend that no one else has ever felt. That when I see her make a certain face I can almost recognize these ways of feelings that she uniquely has, and know that I'm with someone who feels the way she does. I take your assurance that you are not a clone to mean that this is not a dream, which is what I thought you were saying wouldn't be so bad. In a dream I do know what everyone is thinking and did last week, which is nothing, since characters in a dream do not have thoughts or histories.

"That ain't never gonna' happen." Exactly. Throughout the Tao Te Ching, LaoTze's philosophy was based on his famous slogan "Wu Wei". He defined Wu Wei as being natural; let thing be as they are; let Nature take its course. His ideas are too idealistic and impractical to make things to happen in the real world. However, this is, only, one of the chapters which reflects LaoTze's pipe dream. All the Chapters with Wu Wei in them are, almost, his principles suggesting how a ruler should handle his people. PS... Sometimes, I got carried away when things come to the TTC. Please do not hesitate to let me know if I'm out of line.

I don't get horribly depressed waking up from a dream because usually I realize I'm waking up into a world where unique individuals, whom I know and have a real history with, actually exist, from one in which people don't actually have their own unique personalities, histories, feelings, or experiences. I'm fine with loving everyone equally, but hopefully each love would have its own unique character and understanding, so that I'm loving the way people actually think and feel on the basis of who I am, and not just loving generically or anonymously a bunch of clones who happen to all be me.

I don't see the problem? When you wake up from a dream and suddenly realize it was all just a dream, do you get horribly depressed? What would be horribly depressing to me is if samsaric life is simply as we know it with no deeper subreality free of human preferences and judgments. That one simply lives, works & dies. Why even bother, then? Think about how you love your girlfriend.. Well, what is that based on, really? And why do you not love everyone equally? And what about those who don't get loved much in this world? Conditional love as you know it is great, but only because it is but a smithering taste of the totally unconditional cosmic love that the fabric of our submatrix is made of! And even if you personally have a great life - what about others with horrible ones? How messed up would that be if that is simply how it is...with no deeper method behind the madness?? I personally like the idea of an underlying unity because it means that no matter what happens to us as individuals here, ultimately everything is "ok."

Hello Ya Mu, I must apologize for my previous behavior in this thread, I have been going through a rough patch and as a result I have been less tolerant and patient than I need to be. I have no doubt that gardening is a valuable practice and I would encourage everyone that can to do it, my point was really that maybe that isn't enough. If we truly want to evoke change, then we need to look at the bigger picture, what has caused us to become such a harmful race. I think much of this has to do with Te, or the absence of Te to be more exact. When I say Te I'm not talking about virtue, but rather the natural action that occurs when we are in harmony with Tao. I think we achieve this through wu-wei, or action without interference. It is when we allow things to occur naturally that we can allow Te to come forth and thus begin to work in harmony with the world. Imagine for a moment if suddenly all the advances we have, televisions, computers, microwaves, and electric razors were suddenly gone. Some people hear this and they have an immediate sense of dread and fear in the pit of their stomach. We have become so attached to things that ease our way of life, that we have become ignorant, or even worse, ignore the effect these things actually have on the world. When did we begin to value ease of life over the quality of nature? I think, again, it was when we decided to settle down and have a more reliable source of food of goods. I don't think we can ever get back to that time before we decided to settle down and as a result, unless we can come up with a way to stop the impact we have on the world today, we will never actually be able to. The fact of the matter is that we all know in our hearts that the world cannot go on as it has, that in a matter of decades we will have mass famine and that the effects of global warming will begin to have a catastrophic effect on the world. I don't think we are entirely to blame for this, we being the modern Western culture, but we do share the blame. The blame of course started 12,000 years ago when we began to do what we thought was best, when we decided to make the world a better place for our children, not realizing the full extent of what those actions would lead to. 200,000 years ago mankind was very much in harmony with Tao (I believe). I think 15,000 years ago most of humanity still was, it was only when we started to deviate that we started this cycle. I think the key is to look at what we were before and what we have become and to stop valuing one more than the other because of the superficial benefits that we have gotten from this evolution. If we really wanted change, we would put a ban on pregnancy, not allow everyone to have children, begin to compassionately reduce our population, and put our emphasis on the betterment of nature, rather than the propagation of our species. As long as we continue to live the Western dream of 3 kids, a house, a car, and middle class job, nothing much will change. Rather change will occur when we stop the harmful things we do and actually commit to a real and lasting change. My advice to those who are interested in making a change, don't have children just because you want them. If you want children badly, go adopt one, there are literally millions that need families and homes. Don't attach yourself to the Western dogma, begin to live a more natural lifestyle. Make your own food out of actual ingredients rather than buy processed foods where the factories that make them help to further the process of global warming and the pollution of the environment. Make sure that when it comes time for your voice to be heard, that it is heard, that the people in power understand that we want change and that we are willing to sacrifice in order to ensure that not only our species, but our culture can continue. Otherwise I think it will be just a matter of time before we loose everything we have gained. I honestly hope it's not too late, but lately it's hard to believe otherwise. Aaron

You're not contradicting what I am saying, but you seem to think you do. Let me correct a few things you say. First, you make a clear distinction between beliefs and what lies under the beliefs on a deeper level of the psyche. I don't make such a distinction. So right then and there I have one less polarizing and bifurcating line running through my psyche than do you. Second, yes, ultimately everything is indeed coherent. I know this. My entire method as I present it here is aimed at allowing people to feel it and to make use of it in day to day life. So for example, let's say I am freezing in the winter. Ultimately I am not actually freezing. Someone like you would say that. But I don't feel it. I feel like I am freezing. So it does me little good to know the ultimate truth if I can't make use of it in day to day life. You answer, stop trying to use it. Just let it be. And I am answering, "When I use things" that's just the flavor of my "let it be." In other words, when I am going about here and there, I am not going anywhere, I am already at rest from your own ultimate perspective. What I explain here can make people's lives better. What you explain can help too, but it won't help as much, because you're basically presenting the mind as two realms which should not be reconciled against each other. In the superficial realm there are contradictions and in the ultimate or deep realm, there are no contradictions, and you don't need to do any work. Just relax, everything is fine as is. Well, if accidentally break your arm, how would you like it if instead of setting your bones and sawing up your skin I told you "just relax"? Because in a sense, that's an appropriate answer, isn't it? I can just say "just relax" your pain is non-pain. In fact, when I greet you, I can just punch you. Why so? Because it's all the same at the ultimate level, isn't it? And yet out of compassion I do not do that? Why not? So obviously compassion involves something more than just telling people not to worry about anything. I choose the direction in which my beliefs develop. I choose which way I lean. If you mean, am I conscious of all my leanings? The answer is no. It's part of my practice to become more conscious in that way. I did choose them and I remember when. I choose them every time I re-affirm them with equal vigor as the moment before. If my vigor starts to drift, that's my choice in action. It's not important where they come from. I've never personally experienced this. My theory is that our intentionality has a natural balance. If we engage our intentionality too aggressively in a way that seeks to rape things out there into compliance, then we get exhausted and the backlash follows. At the same time, if I pick up a stone and move it, then I relax, the stone remains in its new position. This modest use of intent is rewarding and natural. In fact, if you don't allow an outlet to your intent at all, that is a form of control. It's a form of an inner rape, which will in and of itself explode in its own right. In other words, if you try to over-influence the externals by trying to change too many things too often, then there is a backlash. But if you try to over-influence the internals, by cutting short, disciplining, or over-relaxing your intent, then there is a backlash as well. Not at all. What I've noticed is that eventually the dreamer becomes simply satisfied. For example, you want ice ream. You start eating ice cream. Just how long can you keep eating? Not forever, right? Well, if you start fucking cute girls in your lucid dreams, how long is that going to be interesting? Again, not forever. So what I've noticed is that the level of interest varies based on satisfaction. When you're completely satisfied, you don't need to control anything at all -- but this isn't something you can fake by imploring people to stop messing around. You really have to eat that ice cream and fuck those chicks, or it won't really work. In the worst case scenario you have to reach the same satisfaction through the sublimation of desires. But it's the same shit in a different wrapper, as they say. Get beliefs coherent? That doesn't sound right. It sound like it's something you do in three weeks to 6 months. That's just not how I look at it. Examining one's own beliefs to see if they are coherent or not is not something mechanic. I don't recommend you do it 6 mins in the morning, or twice a day. It's not something that should be made routine in a kind of dead manner. It's not really an exercise. It's more like a lifestyle or an attitude. To an extent the control increased until I bumped up against my own limitations. So for example, flying was easy, and overtime I got better and better at it and I fly in more and more arbitrary ways. For example, I used to have to flap my arms to fly. I don't have to anymore. I used to feel as if I was overcoming some resistance in order to fly. There is less resistance now. In fact recently I flew feet first into the sky, without flapping my arms, just to show off how powerful I am these days. However, some things are hard. For example, when I tried to walk through a wall, I just hit my head and body and bounced off. I knew I was dreaming but there was no walking through the wall for me. So I had to stop and do a deep contemplative meditation into the nature of the wall to get myself to move through it. I did get it eventually, but it was much more difficult and much more strange than flying. Why so? It's obvious! I just believe much less into walking through walls than I do in flying. Flying doesn't screw with the internal consistency of objects, walking through walls does. Of course this has to do with my belief into the internal consistency of objects. In any case, when I explored my dream world I noticed my dream world sometimes would became more challenging in a way that was seemingly designed to disabuse me of all my preconceptions. It wasn't so much as a denial or backlash. It was like the mind was teaching me. So for example, I've had a number of spectacular failures when I did a dream test only to conclude I wasn't dreaming. Then I would wake up with the flawless memory of what happened. Then I realized there was no difference between dreams and reality. If I can have dreams that are so visceral and so perfect that they fail every single dream test, then that's a lesson from the inner guru. It's not a backlash. Why not? Because just in the next few dreams I could fly around again and do whatever I want. So what happened wasn't a kind of "fuck you". It was "check this out... what do you think of this?" That's what it was. It was like a conversation with my own inner mind! I have a great relationship with my inner mind. We are best of friends. So I am never blocked and I don't get any backlashes ever. If something can't be done it's always some kind of lesson that I need to learn, no exceptions. I've always been able to do anything I wanted shortly after the lesson was over.