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Very true. But for me it's been a good way to become initiated into ideas, no matter how crazy they may be, into how the world could be. D.O, Self, the mindstreams from eon to eon, life being a dream, everything being energy etc. I mean, since preschool we are educated to believe that there is certainty to the world, a routine to it, until we begin to slowly see more and more that not many people really know what the hell is going on or what they're doing and suddenly you want to hold on to new grounds, building another phantom structure. It's comforting to have a new ground, a new teacher, a new religion. But at a point you get tired of bullshitting since what you know is so completely abstract and limited, and you have nothing to show for it. Just abstractions, feelings, and beliefs (that may result in psychological shifts, but not necessary what's true). So until then I guess we just have to keep exploring through meditation and experimenting with our awareness and the world while being very honest with what we know and what we are capable of. Btw, I've been watching a lot of Sadhguru's stuff lately and find his teachings very refreshing. I hope you check him out someday.

I follow several comics but none of what you have posted so far. http://www.topwebcomics.com/ That is a great place to find more comics and the list changes as people vote. I follow a few comics, forgive me if I can't link them all, can't always remember which ones I still actually read. http://www.questionablecontent.net/ http://www.leasticoulddo.com/ http://www.oglaf.com/ http://www.lfgcomic.com/ http://www.xkcd.com/ http://www.codenamehunter.com/ http://tmi-comic.com/ http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ http://www.superredundant.com/ THIS ONE RIGHT FUCKING HERE IS A MUST READ - http://www.drmcninja.com/ http://www.underlingcomic.com/ http://www.unsoundedcomic.com/ http://www.agirlandherfed.com/ http://www.dream-scar.net/ http://www.supernormalstep.com/ http://www.otherworldcomic.com/ Finished Comics That Are Awesome: Phoenix Requiem Digger

I am the interaction between the yin and yang spirits, conscious and unconscious mind. So when I die I'll become just my unconsciousness, and be left in a dream type state of existence. If the yin and yang spirit are fused together as one, they become something new, the yang spirit isn't scattered to the wind. This new type of single spirit will not be reincarnated, the mind will continue to function as it did before the death of the physical body.

Mugwort can help you with lucid dreaming. Unless you can already lucid dream, in which case it will fuck it up. Be careful, though. If you're avoiding dealing with anything in yr life and you burn the mugwort or use it in a dream pillow, it WILL come up so make sure you're ready for that.

Josama, thats a frightening experience, I have been lucky not to have had that sort of experience. What I was endeavouring to do with this thread was to encourage others to explore the lower chakras. Unwittingly there is always so much more emphasis on the crown and third eye chakras, however the higher you go the more problematic it becomes to the novice, and even experienced meditators can get into difficulty by over-emphasising the higher chakras. The lower chakras, namely the base and the navel / dan tien, are well within the body, they have no emotional connotations, you can explore them safely, and not get into trouble emotionally or mentally. The base chakra is totally enjoyable, it is the base of the spine and forward of it, it sits at the base of the male penis shaft and inside the front part of the female vagina. So, of course, it is also connected to the sexual organs. But please do not be put off by that, it doesn't stimulate excess sexual desire or dominate your thoughts with sex. It can raise your sexual energy though, for intense sexual pleasure, intense orgasm and staying power. For those who enjoy the Big Draw, holding back and stopping physical orgasm, it is that part of your body that is its centre. However, getting away from its sexual side, it is also powerful in moving you 'out of body' and into the astral planes. By practicing to move chi into and through the base chakra you generate more 'personal power' for spiritual activities. And funnily enough, when you go to sleep you have more power in your dream body for OOB and astral travel. Its the staying power in OOB thats just as important as getting out there, and the more power you have the longer you can stay 'out'. The higher chakras are so sensitive that they can easily be over stimulated, then the headaches start, then the anxiety and mood swings, the paranoia and delusions and this it is so hard to stop once it gets going. My advice has always been to stay away from the higher chakras, they will open by themselves without your input, when they are ready. Thus do your chi gung and tai chi but include the base and navel chakras, along with your microcosmic orbit and 5 element meditations, these are safe and powerful preparation exercises for your ongoing spiritual journey. astralc

Lets see my favorite SF, would be, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K Dick Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams The Alchemist - Pualo Coelho There are a lot more that I like but those three are always my top picks.

Hi K Thanks for your comments, they always seem to have a soothing effect on me. Yes, I will keep at it. It is a sad and sorry thing to have to expose something that you once thought was authentic, in support of the truth and universal principles of yoga, when in fact the only truth found there was Yogani's truth. I will never forget Yogani's argument in support of mantra repetition versus breath meditation. He said, once the breathing stops you have nothing left to focus on, whereas if you are doing mantra repetition and the breathing stops, you can still do the mantra!!! Not only did he not understand that Buddha's Anapanasati is not soley about the breath, but he didn't understand that with breath meditation eventually nimittas (signs) appear, which you then switch your attention to. And, when you focus on the nimitta and penetrate it, it takes you to samadhi/jhana. The other point is that you can only do so much of mantra repetition before the medulla tires and tries to shut off, whereas, like Alan Wallace says, you can meditate for hours on the breath. The other point is that mantra repetition is the mind effortfully creating a form, creating a thought or a subvocalization. It takes effort. That effort can prevent you from going deeper. When the nimitta appears, it does so naturally, without effort. The same goes for the breathing. Breathing occurs on it's own so you can remain a passive observer. Mantra repetition activates the lower tan tien and sends out spurts of chi/prana/winds. The two techniques are totally different. That is why Alan Wallace says that you can't use mantra to still the mind ala shamatha. And, it's very hard to overload while doing breath meditation because the out-breath is a natural vent for excess energy. I know you weren't looking for any lessons on Anapanasati, sorry.. How did people solve spiritual differences in the past? They went to war. They killed millions of people in the name of their religion. Stupid to have to die only to be reborn and have to go through growing up all over again, isn't it? Here, I will sing you a song.. in the key of B: Row row row your boat, gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily merrily merrily, Life is but a dream.. TI

Interesting. The definition I know (which actually suits the term "lucid" very well) is that it's when the dream 'feels' just like reality. Which would mean that there is still a difference to waking reality: the fact that you act like automatic in a situation that doesn't have to be realistic, but you accept everything happening as real. Which is kind of the opposite of said absolute classic definition. Frustrating how society often turns things into their opposites. (which could be called perversion)

They use artemisia arborensis for moxa? I thought it was artemisia vulgaris??? Ran into my acupuncturist at this awesome tea shop we have, and we were talking about our local artemisia (ludoviciana) and how he thinks the properties are different--more cooling--than other subspecies. I wanted to make my own moxa (twenty years later, right?) but he told me not to use the local stuff. It is an amazing plant. It is excellent for dream work. One time I smudged with it and two guys who were crashing at my house that night both had exgirlfriend dreams, they had gone travelling to try to get PAST those memories, but mugwort has a way to bring your subconscious stuff out. One time I was severely dehydrated (kids, don't try this at home) and one taste of that plant brought me back. One time I ate a tiny piece while out on a hike with a group of people and I sware it took me to a whole different PLANET for about ten minutes... It is great for journeying. I have heard from one of my favorite herb teachers that it is good for dreamwork in that if you can't lucid dream, it will help you, and if you CAN then you won't be able to. I am making mugwort oil right now which I want to experiment with (externally) for cramps. (Don't drink herbal oils unless you want to get botulism and die...or as Eddie at Tracker School says, 'go on a permanent involuntary vision quest' heh heh.) What else about mugwort... There is so much to write. I have studied this plant heavily... Interesting about arborensis--where did you hear that? Herbal teas you buy in the store are usu. too old to provide any kind of medicinal value, with the exception (sometimes) of root teas...or if you buy them in the bulk section and they still smell and look very fresh. Nothing in a box. I have heard of schizandra berries as a heart tonic but never for liver... Never heard of st. mary;s thistle seeds--do you know the latin name perchance? For liver NETTLES is awesome--the tea, and also dandelion root tea or tincture (glycerite), milk thistle tincture (also glycerite), red clover combines very well, too. In the desert we have creosote which is a HARDCORE liver detox herb, I always add milk thistle to it for safety... Also there is cleavers (which is great for lymph detox)--I have a tincture and a vinegar in the making right now... FOOD: green leafy vegetables, root vegetables (esp. burdock), miso soup (not the powder), whole wheat grains (+ psyllium husk) oh sorry you don't like grains but they are still good for liver... VEGGIE JUICE especially carrot juice. Apple and cranberry is good too. Cutting back on fried and greasy or fatty or sugary foods can only help. Drinking lots lots lots of water is good. Epsom salt baths and dry brush scrubbing...massage...lots of stretching... mmmmm... I love detoxing. It feels so good.

Jeramiah - I also get a very different feeling when doing MHP. It is best described as a profound peace that envelops me and I just don't want to end the meditation. As for your dream, that is *really* interesting. I also had an interesting experience after a strong session of FP. This happened about two months ago. After I finished the session I went into my kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table. Suddenly it felt as if the entire world was rocking. Not violently but in a slow and very powerful, measured, almost pleasant rhythm. My brain, trying to make sense out of this caused me to look down at my chair because the only explanation I could think of was the legs of the chair must be uneven causing it to rock. Of course, all four legs of the chair were firmly on the tile floor. And I live in Florida so it was not an earthquake. :-). Besides, my wife was standing fairly close to me and she could not feel this. I concluded that this powerful rocking sensation was a rhythmic energy resulting from my one hour of Flying Phoenix. It lasted a Little more than a minute and then I ate something and it disappeared. I think with the practice of FP these metaphysical type experiences are not so uncommon. I say this, and I am a very logical guy. Good practicing! Fu dog

nice to meet you as well. I've been working with people who are disabled for 10 years now, and of the older generations there are some with scary stories about the asylums of yester-year. Not that long ago in the big picture. Those dreams that I've shared I haven't thought about until just this last few month I started looking into taoist alchemy, qi gong, and such types of things a little closer, then reading briefly about some of the abilities of the claimed masters and the training and body movements used in various types of meditation, I was flooded with the memories of those dreams. Definitely got me to start working from the book "taoist yoga alchemy and immortality" and I'm having experiences that relate to what I've read so that's interesting. I need to find a teacher of this type of stuff in the Seattle area. Also, I'm a avid lucid dreamer and I'm curious (I've read a book on Tibetan dream yoga but did not find it to be fruitful) if there are any mixes of these paths... Dreaming, and Taoist Alchemy(Nei-gong better said?)

Thank you for the swift reply, Sir! Much appreciated. Will definately dream up more questions, lol.

I read through those essays a few times - very, very interesting! They basically seem to get at exactly what I'm seeking, however, which is moderation and being in tune with myself. I think that if I continue my present practices moderation will eventually come into other areas of my life. I had a wet dream last night, which puts me back at square one again. It is the first one I have had in many, many months, perhaps years - I think this is a (good) sign that my body is revitalizing itself. With continued practice of the energy dispersion methods, will the frequency of these dreams diminish? The urge tp masturbate for me is definitely starting to be overridden by the positive characteristics I notice in my own personality whilst practicing retention. It really does redefine the concept of "getting off!" Thanks once again!

Hi, I was reading some posts at the AYP forum and I came accross these posts which are discussing the fact that during AYP's Deep Meditation (which is almost identical to TM) they are experiencing periods of dullness, laxity and perhaps even sleep. link: http://www.aypsite.o...?TOPIC_ID=11715 Doctor Who, posts: So, AumNatural asks if Doctor Who uses back support: I guess he forgot that part of the DM instructions that say to rest your back on the chair (or the wall). I believe that resting your back makes it easier to fall asleep, which is all that you are really doing in DM. Then, Bodhi Tree comments with similar observations.. They really don't know that during DM they are 'cat napping' which is referred to as an undesirable state known as 'laxity' or dullness, which is something to avoid in Buddhist Shamatha practice.. More about this later.. Then, Carson posts that these blackouts can happen for months! So, then, after no intervention by Yogani, or anyone else to set them straight, Doctor Who actually thanks them: The reason they are seeing visions or landscapes is because they are passing through the dream state after which they are slowly succumbing to laxity and falling asleep. The reason I bring all of this up is because, not only did I have the same experiences after I finally learned how to do TM or DM properly, but I was reading about laxity in Alan Wallace's books and he says, not only should laxity be avoided but prolonged laxity can cause a person to become unintelligent. In Alan Wallace's book called "The Attention Revolution", he says this about laxity: Dr. Wallace goes on to say: The last point of interest with reference to the DM practice of mantra repetition is found in Alan Wallace's book called "Stilling the Mind" wherein he says: Granted, Dr Wallace is referring to the normal usage of the mantra, as in conventional mantra repetition and AYP uses the mantra like a hypnogogic tool to access deep sleep. As to whether or not it takes you beyond deep sleep, is a mystery and yet to be proven by TM or DM meditators. Dr Wallace does say that any act of settling consciousness will lead to the substrate consciousness, from which all form arises and dissolves back into. But he also mentions that Primordial Consciousness lies further beyond.. I am concerned about the AYP meditators. Hopefully they will read this post and become a little wiser. TI

one more... ; ) '...As reported in "Memories, Dreams, Reflections", the dead now visit Jung, demanding his attention and his blood. They were restless, they said, because they were seekers who had not found what they had sought. To teach them, Philemon appears and preaches seven sermons to them on what they had not learned while alive: the nature of individuation, the superiority of experience over belief, the presence of Abraxas, a god-image that unites all conceivable opposites, and the folly of substituting divine multiplicity with a single overarching God: "In doing so you produce the torment of incomprehension, and mutilate the creation whose nature and aim is differentiation. How can you be true to your own nature when you try to turn the many into the one?" The soul and the crowned son had both emphasized connection to the earth. To Jung Philemon explains what we would now interpret as the ecological dimension of human failure: These dead have given names to all beings, the beings in the air, on the earth and in the water. They have weighted and counted things...What did they do with the admirable tree? What happened to the sacred frog? Did they see his golden eye? ...Did they do penance for the sacred ore that they dug up from the belly of the earth? No, they named, weighed, numbered, and apportioned all things. They did whatever pleased them...Yet the time has come when things speak." Things of the earth that bear witness to human mistreatment of the earth, as the new field of terrapsychology records. Furthermore, had men atoned for the ox and the trees and the frogs, (Philemon went on), they would not have lifted their hand against each other. Social, psychological, and ecological destruction emerge together; for as we now know almost a hundred years after Philemon's words to Jung, alienation from self and alienation from nature represent two sides of one dire pathology. In a later visit, the old Wise One prophecies a return to sense and sanity: The earth became green and fruitful again from the blood of the sacrifice, flowers sprouted, the waves crash into the sand, a silver cloud lies at the foot of the mountain...The stones speak and the grass whispers. With that he kisses the earth and disappears. Later, Jung's soul--or was it actually Sophia now, more goddess than psychic function?--returns from realms above to explain the cosmology of the Seven Sermons, the nature of Abraxas, and Jung's connection with that god through her. Through love, Jung comes to understand through this gnostic education, he can put on his true "stellar nature" ("the body of stars" in Gnostic terminology)... ...No new myths present themselves in the Red Book. Its discussions of the Self, a unitary concept Jung took from Nietzsche and elaborated, restrict themselves to ancient imagery like Abraxas, Jung's Gnostic code word for the felt union of the Christian God with Satan, higher and lower, crown and serpent, into a deeper and more comprehensive if mysterious whole. The rebirth of the divine that plunged Jung into hell renewed God-images repressed into cultural and personal unconsciousness by millennia of monotheistic religion and centuries of scientism. With them had gone the verdant nature imagery that sprouted in Jung's imaginal garments and took root in Philemon's sermons. What Jung did do was dream the sacred imagery onward, taking his own later advice by giving updated form to the fruits of direct experience. Furthermore, Jung pushed past literalistic interpretations of myth by grounding his encounters with the divine in internal experience. Literalism is the letter that kills the spirit, imagination the word that brings it back to life, revivifying the soul as consciously directed fantasy, at last unchained from dogma and doctrine, melts the crude vessels of religion down into storied spiritual experience. It makes sense that the Red Book would finally be published in a time of warfare and global crisis. The narcissism it depicts was not that of Jung alone, but of psychiatry and psychology, of modernity, of a civilization cut off from its natural roots--its "animal" as he put it. Where Faust the alchemist sold his soul to the devil in exchange for carnal frenzy and mechanized might, our world-girdling civilization has altered the elements, the atmosphere, and life itself through the anti-alchemy of mutating toxins and genetic manipulation. The type of ego consciousness responsible for all this cannot tolerate anything wild, uncomfortable, or imperfect; it must clean, cleanse, fix, and solve instead of allowing what arises to open up and move from within. Mired in its own attempts to work on, toward, around, and though, the Faustian ego remains walled off from inner and outer nature except in rare individuals who make their own heroic descent into the depths. For them, the Red Book tells the inside story of Jung's painful evolution as he sat with what pinched and bothered him long enough to let it share its soul. In the wound, he found, was the voice of the divine, ever calling into presence a more spacious and heartfelt relatedness to an animate world, one whose creatures, liquids, fires, and minerals speak on their own behalf to anyone with ears to hear.' Craig Chalquist, PhD http://www.chalquist.com/redbook.html

You say you're interested in this stuff. That's fine, but just realize that VERY FEW ppl get to work in professions where they get to express their interests. The vast majority of the anonymous masses go to work, do their boring 8 hours behind a desk pushing paper or whatever, go home, unwind, collect their paycheck, rinse, and repeat. They pursue interests in their free time, away from work. The few exceptions are VERY lucky, and many of them work for themselves with their own business. Sorry to shoot your bubble. You are obviously very enthusiastic about spiritual things, but the chances of you turning it into a paying career is extremely low. Sucks, but that's life. So my advice again, is to study a practical subject, and study your interests and business in your spare time. Dream about turning your hobby into your career only after you've found a real job. Otherwise you'll put all your eggs in one basket and you have nothing to fall back on when things (unfortunately) don't work out.

OldGreen, Astral travel is something that helped me not to be afraid of death, I have met relatives and friends who had died, thats one thing that has made a difference to my life. I have also had experiences with people/spirits/entities who taught me things, about my work, my meditations and healing. So, once it is no longer a novelty it can lead to other experiences. No, it is not a trick but it certainly is an enjoyable experience. Sloppy, mmm, do you mean that I do not know what a lucid dream is or that I have never had one? My answer was in consideration that my definition may be different to others, which is why I asked for comments. If I take my own experiences of lucid dreaming into account, then the answer is, no, it is not lucid dreaming. I hope that has helped clear this up.

"Did Jung give rebirth to a new God-image in his soul? No new myths present themselves in the Red Book. Its discussions of the Self, a unitary concept Jung took from Nietzsche and elaborated, restrict themselves to ancient imagery like Abraxas, Jung's Gnostic code word for the felt union of the Christian God with Satan, higher and lower, crown and serpent, into a deeper and more comprehensive if mysterious whole. The rebirth of the divine that plunged Jung into hell renewed God-images repressed into cultural and personal unconsciousness by millennia of monotheistic religion and centuries of scientism. With them had gone the verdant nature imagery that sprouted in Jung's imaginal garments and took root in Philemon's sermons. What Jung did do was dream the sacred imagery onward, taking his own later advice by giving updated form to the fruits of direct experience. Furthermore, Jung pushed past literalistic interpretations of myth by grounding his encounters with the divine in internal experience. Literalism is the letter that kills the spirit, imagination the word that brings it back to life, revivifying the soul as consciously directed fantasy, at last unchained from dogma and doctrine, melts the crude vessels of religion down into storied spiritual experience. It makes sense that the Red Book would finally be published in a time of warfare and global crisis. The narcissism it depicts was not that of Jung alone, but of psychiatry and psychology, of modernity, of a civilization cut off from its natural roots--its "animal" as he put it. Where Faust the alchemist sold his soul to the devil in exchange for carnal frenzy and mechanized might, our world-girdling civilization has altered the elements, the atmosphere, and life itself through the anti-alchemy of mutating toxins and genetic manipulation. The type of ego consciousness responsible for all this cannot tolerate anything wild, uncomfortable, or imperfect; it must clean, cleanse, fix, and solve instead of allowing what arises to open up and move from within. Mired in its own attempts to work on, toward, around, and though, the Faustian ego remains walled off from inner and outer nature except in rare individuals who make their own heroic descent into the depths. For them, the Red Book tells the inside story of Jung's painful evolution as he sat with what pinched and bothered him long enough to let it share its soul. In the wound, he found, was the voice of the divine, ever calling into presence a more spacious and heartfelt relatedness to an animate world, one whose creatures, liquids, fires, and minerals speak on their own behalf to anyone with ears to hear..." http://www.chalquist.com/redbook.html

to anamatva: I was able to download that book online. It's interesting that Tao teachings address sex as something as natural as eating (which is one of the comparisons made), and doesn't make it seem "out of the ordinary" or "dirty". Rather, the goal seems to be to improve health and "vitality" instead of merely indulging one's self. Needless to say this is difficult with masturbation because, as suggested earlier, there is no feedback of energy from a partner that can occur. As of now I've abstained completely for 2 days. Obviously not ejaculating at all is not a good idea, but I would prefer to reach ejaculation through masturbation as opposed to a wet dream. Do you think that as an occasional thing, practicing ejaculation control would be harmful to me? I might not try it until I am more familiar with the energy diversion practices. I feel like I over-intellectualize all this sometimes. Still, would there be potential benefits to being aware of all of this at a young age?

taoiseasy, i totally agree dhiggs, why not just try to stop masturbating? if you can't, you're addicted. one more reason to give it up. masturbation is a very depleting, self-defeating activity, and although changing habits can be stressful and challenging, i recommend just trying it and seeing what happens. Don't do it for a day, if you can pull that off, try 2 days. Just keep going. When you can make it a week, shoot for 2 weeks. If you want, i'd say just do it until you have a wet dream, but that can take some building up to for some. i also totally agree with the idea of studying some entry-level energy work, like taiji or qigong or taking up yoga or something similar. Apply your sensual side and love of pleasure to something that will give you long term benefit and increase the quality of life, unlike masturbation and if you take the advice of quitting masturbation, make a careful note of your energies and mental state each day. I have no doubt that as you begin to conserve your life energy you will become more vital and energized in a general way good luck to you!

Hi, During last night's meditation I was practising Alan Wallace's stage nine shamantha technique and I discovered how to stop the breath. I don't mean holding the breath, or filling up with air until you no longer feel the need to breathe. I'm talking about simply stopping the breath with no need to breathe, no urge to breath. And, at the same time, a mysterious surge of fine energy comes out and seems to support the life function. The technique that I was practising was this: 1) Sit in a meditative posture, with eyes closed. 2) Focus on the empty space before the face ( I extended it out about 1 foot) 3) After a while, turn your attention fully backwards and focus on whom is perceiving. I started the meditation and focused on the space, noticed my breathing which was somewhat rapid and just relaxed my face. My breathing rate increased somewhat but that is normal. After a few seconds, I turned my attention directly backwards into the back of the head, to try to sense the watcher, or the perceiver. As I did this I noticed that my breathing slowed down quite a bit. Now, I have done many hours of 'being in the self' or 'just being' and I think I am pretty good at isolating the 'ego' or the sense of small sense which resided in the back of the head around the medulla area. This time, I had a pretty good sense of 'me', and there was some golden light around 'me'. I moved my attention back out to the space in front of my face. My breathing resumed it's normal pace. I moved my attention backwards towards the self again. Well, I've always thought that God was looking through my eyes, so perhaps it isn't the self.. I don't know. Regardless, my breathing slowed right down and stopped!!! WHAT WAS THAT? I had no urge to breathe at all. I quickly brought my attention back towards the space in front of my face and my breathing resumed. I moved my attention back inwards to that spot, where the medulla is and my breathing stopped again. I went back and forth and I realized that when I was focusing outwards, the breathing occurs. When I was focused on the "i", my breathing stopped. There was no urge to breathe. There was no feeling of suffocation, or urgency. It was quite freaky and at the same time, awesome. Then I noticed that when I was focusing inwards there was a fine current of energy coming out from the medulla and progressing into my head. I thought to myself, I have discovered Yogananda's secret about the medulla being the mouth of God! I sat in the breathless state for 10 seconds or so and then decided to end it and go to bed. The whole meditation lasted only 10 minutes. I didn't want to push it nor overload anything.. Well, I could not sleep. I was so energized!!! Unbelievable. I could see the purple and green pulsing lights, many visions, the dream worlds, planes, nimittas; it was like my consciousness was on fire. This kept me up until around 5:00 am at which time I finally managed to fall asleep. Today, I have lots of heat in the head, upper body and arms. I feel like I am sunburned inside. Despite getting only 2 hours of sleep, I still feel pretty good. Now for the questions: 1) If I stay in the breathless state too long by focusing on that spot in the medulla (or that area), will I die? Is this a dangerous practice? 2) Is the energy that comes out of the medulla the energy that Yogananda talks about, from the mouth of God? 3) Is there mention of this phenomenon in Taosim or Buddism? 3) Have you ever experienced breathlessness by centering on the medulla? If so, for how long? Any comments will be surely appreciated. I feel like I've discovered the key to how the yogis who remain breathless for days, buried in air tight boxes underground, do it. TI

Sorry, no. We are not here to demand justice, but to set things straight. Justice is what would in case happen next. This forum started as our dream, not the personal dream of Sean. And I cannot see me, for once, contributing to his personal website.

Sean, I think Plato is pretty right-on, especially about your intending to take over the HT board from the start. But "Doctor Trip" says this expresses your desire to learn: you wanted to grasp all that crazy energy on the HT board by swallowing the board whole and then regurgitating it with collapsible threads, something familiar and safe. Pietro of course has his own wet dream. You were in fact quite sensible when you suggested he simply use the board for what it was intended, but that's not his way to knowledge and power. And who's to say whose wet dream is butter? If I'm right about your desire to learn, then this is the 'Hero's Journey 101' test where you have to consider abandoning all that's familiar and safe. And I'd say the same to Pietro: you may or may not have noticed that in another life on another board you once wrote a journal that had a thriving, active readership. And then you began tinkering and focusing almost entirely on the presentation of your thoughts, and after years of work you had a beautiful, beautiful format which no one ever read. As to the direction we take here, I vote 'the simpler the better'. If Pietro fully understood the ancient practice of COBOL he'd realize that I too was once a demon programmer. And that's why for me today, like Plato, a simple thread is more than enough. Trip

The seemingly fluid nature of the 'ego' construct is in actuality raw consciousness itself reflecting the 'free will' of the heart-singularity. Take a look at your hands while they're behind your head... The mind is completely luminescent. Within the heart-singularity is the spark of paradoxical potential (ten thousand things) which gives birth to the entire universe the moment it 'touches' raw consciousness (the 1 goes through 0, resulting in the sound of a circle's radius, OM). The form of the heart-singularity is affected by the 'free will' of the initial reflection (The full-spectrum sound of 'you' making a full circuit through space/time, the total sum of all cause-and-effect for that particular universe). Since that 'free will', though engulfed in it's past-times, has complete access to the full radius of potential (the whole of the circle's radius), the essence of consciousness... is acting. Gives a whole new dimension to phrases like 'divine play' eh? If such a thing were true, self-recognition would be closely intertwined with evolution and the resultant place of the individual self within the universal web. Of course, it's all dream logic and what-not. It was fun to write, though... left a sweet taste at the roof of my mind. Fun to think about!

Enchanted by the devas... Every time anyone who has attained the deep stages of jhana, and during meditation connects with any of the world of the higher devas, it's is easy to long for those realities and leave well and truly behind the "pestilence" and material delusion that describes our world. However, by attaining different levels of jhana, the meditator increases the likelihood of being reborn to a heavenly plane of existence. If you pass away while meditating at one of the jhanic levels, you will be reborn to that heavenly existence. But this is not desirable for serious spiritual seekers, since it is another form of delusion: a noble one but you are still trapped in another dream. Let's keep dreaming and practicing at the same time, hey! My droogies.