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I do agree that the Non-duality of Undivided Light is the Wu Chi aspect of the Tao. I disagree that the mirage of the manifest is real,...in any absolute way. Certainly, one could argue the realness of their dream llast night,...and to them, perhaps it was real. To me, truth or realness is that which never changes. As for the word "exist"...it implies to stand alone. Nothing stands alone,...everything manifest has a Dependent Origination, that is, is dependent on something else. If you uncover something that actually exists,...by all means, embrace it. But keep in mind,...."we need to draw our attention to what is false in us, for unless we learn to recognize the false as the false, there can be no lasting transformation, and you will always be drawn back into illusion, for that is how the false perpetuates itself" Eckhart Tolle

I really only look at my own energy, especially when I go to write, but also when I read. I try to reach into not knowing, until something comes out I didn't know before, or maybe something I knew before comes out in a different way. That's why I'm on Tao Bums, for the joy of discovery. I like reading what Drew has to say, although he is oftentimes speaking as though in a dream to me. I only look at how the relationships he describes feel to me, and I find some inspiration in what I feel, usually. I respect the masters of all the arts, but I like the statement of Foyan, a Ch'an teacher in 12th century China. He said that there were only two illnesses at his monastery: searching for an ass while riding an ass, and being mounted on an ass but unable to dismount. Isn't it better, he asked, never to mount the ass at all? I like what Scotty has to say, and pretty much what everybody on Tao Bums has to say. The folks who realized their own helplessness, who came to a crisis and found redemption, I feel particularly close to even when they are of another faith- I feel with them as I feel with Drew, that I have inspiration from the relationships they speak of when they describe how their faith operates in their daily life. I think Chunyi Lin mentioned that he does reverse breathing all day long. I find that as remarkable as his advice to sit the lotus 2 hours a day, to become a healer. Chunyi Lin by all accounts is an amazing healer, and I like what I have seen of his teaching. If I were able to sit the lotus two hours a day, I might think like Drew to become a healer. However, my effort has always been simply to teach myself to sit the lotus for forty minutes once or twice a day, to heal myself. Sometimes I think I should try to be more, to become an impeccable master, but then I realize that there's no way other than to be where I am 24/7 and that's more about not getting on the ass to begin with. So I give it up, to take it up, yet I don't expect I will become a healer. The energy in people's words, the effort should be to heal ourselves, and that comes through in strange ways sometimes. I love to dance, these words somehow make me feel like that!

For many, such as yourself, non-duality doesn't make sense without duality,...it is as you say, just a term or concept or parlor trick for those like TzuJanLi to play mystic or sage. However, from Non-duality's point of view (although it doesn't use words), it does not need the illusion of maya to exist. Granted that a Center needs a boundary, a Here needs a There, One needs a Many,...but Non-duality is beyond the sum of those opposites. Like absolute love, Non-duality doesn't have an opposite. There is no relationship between "is-ness" and "not-ness". There is no relationship or dependant origination of that which is beyond Duality. For Buddhist who disagree, it is suggested they read the Mountain Doctrine. Non-Duality is neither with-in nor with-out Duality,...the perceived separation that manifests Form and Empty, Yang and Yin, positive electricity and negative electricity, a particle and wave, or sphere and torus, never existed within Non-duality,...within Undivided Light. No aspect of Duality is existent,...such a belief is the barrier built by ego (which itself does not exist) to obscure the reality of Non-duality. Duality is a synonym for dream. V

yes right on about staying relaxed. I guess I was taken aback when I first started practising Zhan Zhuang couple of weeks ago, I found it very powerful. It disrupted my dream state at night. so I had to discontinue it. I would still to find out what makes it so powerful, much more powerful for me than say sitting crossed legged zen meditation. With Zhan Zhuang I really feel my connection to earth, although I do it on a carpet on 2nd floor

Meditation happens and cannot be practised (IMO). It is different state of being than normal waking, sleep or dream state most people expirience. Yet it can incorporate all of those states. However just sitting and various different practises - energetic or visualisation are called meditation also becouse they may lead to meditational state, change of personal frequency to more universal. As well as unfortunate lack of shades of common vocabulary for such terms.

Sorry Audiohealing I must've come out wrong I didnt mean to piss you off or make you feel inferior I agree you should try by all means. I myself have not stopped doing spiritual practice despite my condition and it gives me great power and I do agree with you that you should indeed do it, but also search for professional help. I believe that spiritual masters do not have the kind of experience and education needed to actually cure people from mental illnesses. "So many weird and unexpected shit can happen in life. There are sooo many variables in this situation that psychotherapy can't even begin to solve." I dont understand how doing spiritual practice would be somehow different. Sorry I didnt mean it like that when I said its for "normal" people All I'm saying is that a person suffering from a mental illness is in a completely different situation (doesnt make him inferior or take away from his value as a human being) with his mind and it is much more tricky to begin working it with spiritual practices. I'm not saying you cant have a fullfilling spiritual life ofcourse you can Infact the reason I'm still alive is propably due to my personal mystical experiences. You seem to have a very negative view on psychotherapy I dont think you should confine yourself into anything and that includes doing spiritual practice only There has been alot of research done about spiritual practice and spychoactive plants and their effect on mental illnesses. I have also taken a fair share of psychedelic drugs in my youth and they did work as eye-openers for me just like my mystical experiences, but yet again did not take the problem away. The research done on these fields also shows a similar pattern, where there has been a positive effect but it has been vague and not clear. The problem with psychoactive plants is that while you might go trough a trip where your entire ego is stripped away from you in most cases the experience does not last. You come down from the trip and then you feel good for the next 1-2months but eventually the "realization" you had during the trip wears off and then your in square one only with a memory of what the solution could be. It is a very rare occasion that a person changes fundamentally and permanently due to a psychedelic trip. This poses a problem, because if this happens it means you need to take the substance in order to see the truth and that is not a viable option in the long run, unless you are the shaman in the jungle and it is a part of your culture. There is also alot of research about the effects that tai chi & qi gong have on people suffering from mental illnesses and they show a greater sense of peace, less anxiety, less depression and so forth but again havent been proven to be able to cure people. Sorry if I come out as being rude to you that is not my plan. I just feel that you have a very romantic view about spiritual practices and shamanism. On the other hand you have a very negative view on all the conventional methods. The way I see it is that like you said you dont have many choices. Your all in. But from a statistical point of view the means you are trying to reach your goals are unrealistic. I mean sure if you happen to become the main discipline of a great spiritual master he will cure you and after a year of excessive daily training you will cure yourself. Sure if you do go to the jungle and meet the shaman he may be able to give you a substance and then guide you trough the trip and then all of your problems go away in one night. Sure you MIGHT someday have a mystical experience and be enlightened instantly and all your problems would be gone. But these things are in the realm of propably-not-going-to-happen. The case is that you are suffering and you need to know exactly what is going to happen, how it is going to happen, when it is going to happen, how much is it going to cost and how do you make it happen. I have been asking these questions from myself for 8 years and now atlast I am in a situation where I actually know what it takes for me to feel better, how it is possible to do, where I'm gonna do it, with whom I'm gonna do it, how long its going to last and how much its going to cost. I am so sorry but if you want to be SURE about your personal liberation out of your bad feelings you need to have a clear plan. When you dont exactly know your situation and how your gonna get trough it then yes, the best plan I think is to simply try everything until you know. But I do not think that such a list should only have different spiritual practices, masters and psychoactive substances in it. I share a very similar past with you. When the reality hit me first that I have a mental disease I was also interested in spiritual practices and psychoactive substances and thought to myself "hey, I'm gonna cure myself with these". Didn't happen. I didn't stop practicing I still practice and I like reading all the info on this forum and having all the mystical experiences so I am having a fullfilling spiritual life. I actually had an experience where I did go and meet a psychotherapist and she said to me "you cannot cure yourself by doing spiritual practices" and I was insulted, I told her to fuck off and I left. Year later I had to face the fact that all my efforts hadnt gotten me anywhere. I needed a realistic plan. The first step of my realistic plan was to go to therapy. All of my experiences have made me a very cynical person when it comes to mental problems and answers to them. I can tell you that in my case the solution was a combination of right nutrition (I have candida), psychotherapy (for my mental problems) and a right kind of a plan for treating my cronic fatique syndrome. But before I could know the solutions I had to know the diagnose and the mechanics of how they manifest in me. Anyways. All I'm asking is that if after few years you still find yourself from the same situation and nothing has changed remember this thread and consider trying a conventional method I'm a newbie when it comes to tai chi & qi gong but if you decide to open up for conventional methods or need any kind of help from a guy who has gone trough this you can PM me But if you do choose to go down that road please dont just dream, do the unimaginable. Go to the jungle, find a real master. Give it all you have and you might succeed

Good. Now you understand why in the end Buddha says he hasn't said a single word. Emptiness is merely a non-affirming negation. It negates existents while not establishing anything including a position of non-existence. When I say cognition is illusory, I don't mean there is an existing thing called cognition, that is illusory. I mean the appearance of cognition is ultimately empty or illusory which means there is no real cognition behind the appearance of cognition - appearance means merely an empty illusion without substance. In Diamond Sutra it always say, 'A' is not 'A', therefore its 'A'. Shunyata (Emptiness) means whatever appears are empty of independent or inherent existence, be it a sound, a form, or any other phenomena. This is because it is the 'interconnectedness' that give rise to the sound or experience (The person, the stick, the bell, hitting, air, ears, etc, i.e. the conditions). What is dependently arisen has no independent existence anywhere - so are simply like mere illusion, magician's trick, or dream-like appearances that has no substance or core anywhere. Yes when explaining it is always in comparison - it is only when you have false view of substantiality that it makes sense to talk about the absence of substantiality. In meditative equipoise no comparison is needed because it is not through analysis. But to speak to you in terms of language, I can use pointers. The best pointer is to point to you that your notion of substantiality is false, is to negate that view of substantiality. When you have a realization that negates the view of substantiality, then everything becomes seen as illusory. Wrong analogy. You are comparing the absence of experience of cognizance, with the presence of experience of cognizance, and saying you cannot experience the absence of cognizance since all experiences are an experience of cognizance. I'm not rejecting the appearance of cognizance (do know that cognizance and appearance are inseparable - in seeing just seen no seer), I am rejecting the inherent existence of cognizance. So you should be comparing the view of substantiality with the lack of it, not the presence of appearance and absence of appearance. Appearance, emptiness, and luminosity are inseparable. When you realize Anatta, you do not see 'All is Awareness'. You don't deny luminosity but you realize that 'there is just the breathe, the scent, the sight' and 'Awareness' is just a label collating the diverse, scattered and disjoint manifestation - there is no one awareness linking all of them together, you do not subsume everything to be one substance but see that 'Awareness' is an empty label, in seeing just the seen, seeing is just the seen, just the diverse manifestation. As an analogy: there is no river apart from flowing, wind apart from blowing, weather apart from the wetting, forming and parting of clouds, wind, etc changing moment to moment - so it is not 'All is Weather' (that is mere convention) but ultimately 'there is no The Weather' just like there is no 'The Awareness'. So am I comparing 'awareness' with lack of it, or 'weather' with the lack of it, or 'river' with the lack of it? No, I am not talking about the presence (existence) or absence (non-existence) of awareness, or weather, or river. I am talking about the lack of a substantial self in any of them. No aware-ness. No weather-ness. No river-ness. Just the blowing, the flowing, the manifestation of six dependently originated cognizance. I am not comparing existence with non-existence (which would depend on the notion of an existent). The nihilistic notion of non-existence says that an existent self first exists, then becomes non-existent after death, thus rejecting the validity of karma and rebirth. But when you say there is no existent self in the first place apart from dependently originated activities, there is no basis/self to annihilate or become non-existent when you die. So the extremes of existence and non-existence, eternalism or nihilism are both rejected at once. Of course even the 'activities' are also ultimately empty and when realized the twofold emptiness becomes actualized. Why would you need to 'compare or contrast its substantiality' - when you realize seeing is just the sight and there is No 'The Awareness', you will have effectively understood the difference between false cognition and correct cognition in terms of anatta.

Well that quote is from a thread started by a person seeking help in identifying amanita shrooms. It is easy to misidentify them -- for example there is a variety of amanita in Minnesota that has no psychotropic effects. I didn't know about this variety before I ate the amanita muscaria that I found -- which obviously was not the kind with no psychtropic effects. The time loop effect mentioned in the above report is actually quite prominent from amanita muscaria - so much that I also blogged on it. http://naturalresonancerevolution.blogspot.com/2011/10/fly-agaric-loop-as-dmt-dream-state-aka.html again making the connection to DMT. Still you get a more toxic effect from the similar looking amanita pantheria and it's possible that the above report was someone who ingested the wrong kind as this quote describes: The Amanita Pantheria looks like an older Amanita Muscaria which starts out red but then yellows with age. The pantheria is never red. You probably know this but that's why the Pantheria can be confused for Muscaria. So the Pantheria has more muscarine in it than Muscaria -- and then the muscarine can produce seizures: http://www.pharmacorama.com/en/Sections/Acetylcholine_2_2.php#2

it really depends on body health, internal ability and body type/element predominance. ..and how much ibutane is actually in the mushroom. Over consumption is where people get into trouble. The affect can be very severe. It sometimes effects the central nervous system with seizures and respiratory failure: "" I remember a couple that was walking asking me if I was alright. Then I remember one of them saying they called the ambulance. Then I remember what appeared to be the police and some paramedics standing over me and asking all sorts of questions which I could not respond too. I thought it was all a dream. Then I remember being in the emergency room with doctors and nurses stripping my close off, sticking all sorts of IVs in me, and a tube up my urethra (I remember this excrutiating pain). I heard a couple nurses or doctors (not sure) scream, 'He is going into seizure again.' I then recall the doctor asking me if I took heroin a few times, and all I muttered was amanita, but he didn't know what I was saying. Then I remember coming to, with my mom by my side, about 6-8 hours later. I didn't know who I was or where I was for a long time. I thought maybe I had been hit by a car, or maybe I had died. I simply didn't know and really didn't care, it is the day after now, and all I have as memories of last night are about 6 IV spots on both my arms, and an extremely painful urethra, which is torture to pee out of. I simply don't know what happened, maybe it was the drugs, the dosage, or something completely different. I got CAT scans and I don't have a tumor. I have never had a seizure in my life prior to this. I also can no longer drive until I follow up with a neurologist. "" Yep, a night in the hospital in the most awful psychic agony I have ever experienced while they poured ipecac (SP) and charcoal down me 'cause the little bastards refused to let me puke. I was pumped. I was then hooked to a heart monitor and had the distinct displeasure of seeing my heart stop a couple of times. After one of them and a couple of firm thumps to my sternum I asked the doctor if I was going to make it. He was rather preocupied with saving my life and sorta muttered, 'we don't know.' They would not treat me with anything until the mushroom was identified which they did by flying it to a poison control center in Denver, I think it was, by Navy jet from Moffet field. They then shot me with something that had me down in 15 minutes after about six hours of mental horror. The next morning every damn med student and intern came by to find out what it was like. I didn't have good things to report. Your mileage may vary. The view I got of the human condition and the burried sadness, pain and agony in everyone around and treating me in the busy emergency facility may have been one very powerful sort of empathogenic halucination effect but it fucked me up for a long time. I have tried nearly every psychoactive even remotely available and nothing, NOTHING, has had such a negative psychic effect. "" Apparently she had asked if I was ok and if she could go to bed, and I said, “OK”. She then asked if she could turn the light off and I said “Ok” again. She awoke 10-15 minutes later to a gurgling sound coming from the other room. She found me convulsing on the floor. I had pissed myself at least once, and my eyes were wide open, but rolled back in my head. She tried to wake me, but I was non-responsive to her repeated attempts. Desperate, she called the hospital and had them send an ambulance, who in turn called the fucking cops like most stupid hospitals do in the event of an O.D. (How this can be justified when this only results in more deaths from OD’s when people avoid medical attention for fear of the police). The ambulance came and the cops shortly thereafter. this guys symptoms of sweating, being very cold and salivation precede central nervous system problems like seizure and respiratory failure that result fro overdose of muscaria. "" First of all this was about he most unpleasant thing I've ever done. My wife and I split 30 grams of dried aminitas. We ground them up in a coffie grinder and then heated them on the stove with water for about 45 minutes. We started to drink them about 5:15 and finished about 5:25. The taste was not apetizing at all. My wife started to feel sick at about 5:45 and we both were getting light headed. I got up to use the restroom and i felt like i was drunk; but only in my head. For about the next 30 minutes we watched TV. andabout 6:20 I had to vomit. We bot had a tottaly 'in the head' feeling. The only thing I felt in my body was like i was being pushed into the couch. When I closed my eyes I felt like I was falling. My wife felt the same way. About 6:30 I went outside because I was cold. Even though it was 80 - 90 degreese outside I was still cold. I found myself sweating profously, and salvating like my favorite dish was on the stove. After baout 30 minutes I went to lay on the couch. I still felt the same.. in my head. My wife looked like she was asleep so I didn't bother her. I was still sweating really bad...but still cold. So I got a blanket and tried to go to sleep. It didn't work. The blanket made me sweat more, which made me colder' and so on. For about the next three hours I felt this way. Finally about 10:00 I started to feel normal. So I got something to eat and when I diddnt feel anything anymore I was really tired so I was able to go to sleep. Sleep came easy accept I kept waking up with a soaking wet pillow; and I dont ussually drool when I sleep. The next morning i woke up and felt fine. There were no after efects like LSD or anything. As an ending note...neither of us will EVER take Aminitas again. Bad Experiences with Muscaria

Have you noticed how the robots select 'archetypes'? Goth, sportsfan, hippie etc. Do people you know such as family friends seem to be these robots? Or maybe they are ultimate beings only appearing as robots. It's possible this 'spiritual' path is a curse or a kind of trial for weaker souls. Think about if everybody knew about the robots but just played along with it for the entertainment of each other and themselves as well as to train these weaker souls. Passing judgement on the bots seems erroneous. It seems better to view them as your superiors by purpose or your superiors by child-like innocent bliss. Is the spiritual path harder then the ignorant path? Is it even superior? If you could redesign every aspect of your life would you select this same one? Just some ideas. Also, I'm very curious to the profit you make via donations on your site. You seem to get a lot of hits. I don't mean to be rude but are you making enough to live on? That would be a dream come true no? Ommmmm.

Is there truly a divide between conceptual realization and a more direct realization of the way things are, or is it just a matter of application? Namely, simply because conceptual realization involves words and reflective analysis of something that is experienced it does not make it indirect. This so called non-inferred realization is only experienced as if it is direct because it is applied to oneself, one's own way of experiencing life, and its effects are felt directy without reflective analysis. But the process by which both happen are very much the same. The mind observes and then makes a conclusive conviction of that which is experienced and alters its future ways of experiencing accordingly No, that's a different case involving the depth of conviction. If someone comes to the conclusion with great conviction that "everything is impermanent," his way of experiencing will also be directly affected. But you are thinking of conceptuality as shallow mind games, which in most cases are, but not always. And what backs your enlightened framework other than logic and personal observation? The permanency of a moment's effect is universal to all moments according to your dependent origination. Of course the belief in santa claus can be believed in again! Santa claus is an idea, and as long as the potentiality of santa claus resides in the mind, he can be experienced. You can still very much dream about a world in which santa claus exists. Or we can trace back to how you came to learn that santa claus did not exist, i.e. how you saw your parents wrap presents one christmas, or some guy on t.v. saying so. But upon reviewing the evidence, you can still conclude how it's not enough to deny the true existence of santa claus, and believe in him again! You are simply stating your convictions. You are relying too heavily on personal experience to be drawing universal conclusions while claiming that's what other people do. I am not very interested in that. I am more interested in how you came those convictions, as in what process led you to stop believing in santa claus, because I think your insight is very lacking in that regard.

So, was your peyote trip like the Trial of Billy Jack? As for the Rice-milk,...who knows what a Dakini will do,...the only thing we can really surmise is that Siddhartha would not have been Shakyamuni without her (Sujata). Just as Tilopa would not have realized enlightenment without receiving the 9 Dakini secrets from the Dakini Queen. The Buddhist patriarchy however, wants all to believe that the enlightened were instructed by various guru's,...thus promoting their perpetual guru business. The fact is this: Awareness of absolute bodhichitta, or awakened mind, through the clear recognition that everything one perceives is a dream, necessitates an understanding of the feminine aspect of nature. Such insight is beyond the cognizance of relative thinking, which arises soley through form. Form, by itself, has no perception of the field that holds it, as a particle is oblivious of its wave, or the Six Senses ignorance of stillness. Shantideva wrote, "The absolute is not within the reach of intellect, for the intellect is grounded in the relative." Society-at-large is unaware of nature's feminine characteristics because thinking accepts a fabricated feminine that sustains a strict patriarchal, form-based viewpoint. In other words... there are two feminine's - the feminine of nature, and the feminine of man,...a Yin from Wu Chi's point of view, and a Yin from a Humanistic point of view. V

It means undeluded cognition is also illusory/empty. Yes, undeluded cognition. Illusory implies: an appearance of something, which is nonetheless without substance/substantiality, core, inherency, such as a mirage, a dream, etc. There is no such thing as an inherently existing thing called non-cognition, so non-cognition is also empty, but since non-cognition (not sure what you mean by that) is not an appearance, 'illusory' may not make sense in this context. Anyway I did not speak about non-cognition, just deluded and undeluded cognition. Don't get you. Yes. No. There is just cognition without a cognizer and something cognizing. You are falling into the error of inference again - that to see requires a seer and an object seen (have already told you earlier this is not required). If you awaken, it is like Kalaka Sutta - you do not establish a seer or sometihng seen, just suchness. Yes, and those experiences are illusory (appearing but without substance) Why not? And that experience can be tainted with delusion or not - delusion is also part of that experience.

No - you didn't get me even after I have repeatedly explained myself, perhaps I have not been able to convey my message clearly enough. All appearances are illusory/empty is a TRUTH... so the fact that all appearance is illusory does not mean for example, that 'correct cognition' is ultimately a false cognition (cognition of falsities), since illusoriness does not not make everything false as it is itself a truth - it only makes notions of non-illusoriness or notions of inherent existence false, makes sense? So there is false cognition (cognition of inherent self and objects) and correct cognition (cognition undeluded by false notions of self and objects). Correct cognition is illusory, and precisely because it is illusory that it is correct - because correct cognition here means undeluded by false notions of self and objects which would have contradicted its illusoriness. This is why Diamond Sutra keeps saying apparently paradoxical (but actually not paradoxical) stuff like it is precisely because there is no perfect enlightenment, that the Buddha is known to have attained perfect enlightenment. Illusoriness of something implies that inherent existence pertaining to something is false, and that its Emptiness is the Ultimate Truth, so saying 'everything is illusory' is not saying 'nothing is true' because 'illusoriness' or 'emptiness' is precisely THE truth, as a matter of fact correct cognition is the cognition of the truth of illusoriness, you get what I mean? It is realization and then authentication of the truth of the illusoriness of self and objects in every moment. And false cognition is the non-recognition of the truth of illusoriness. The view/illusion of self and objects is false (not true). The truth of emptiness of self and objects is, well, true. They are apparent, not substantial/real/inherent/independent - like a dream. By substantial and real I mean inherent and independent. No, I said its useless for a Buddha, but useful for sentient beings. A Buddha doesn't need four noble truths. He does not conceive anything at all and he needs no remedy about anything. He does not conceive conventional. p.s. in conclusion, the problem is that you don't understand the diff between peak experience and realization of anatta and emptienss. People can have peak experience where sense of self dissolves, and when their sense of self return, they go on their lives untransformed. They will not think that one mode of cognition is any truer than the other (like that you are implying) - simply because they have not realized that 'self' is an illusion to begin with, there never has been 'self' to begin with. If you have that realization, you will understand why you can either be awakened to Truth, or be trapped in delusions. If you merely have an experience, you will see it in terms of just being an experience wonderful or blissful as it may be - but nothing about realizing a truth, a Eureka realization that overturns your entire framework and view of reality resulting in a permanent transformation.

Right so there is just appearance of the "cognition of truth." If cognition is an appearance, then you are saying one is a false appearance and the other is a true appearance. If cognition is "of" an appearance, as in the example of the apple as the appearance. Then you are saying there is a separation of the apple as an appearance and something having the ability to be cognizant of that apple in a deluded way or a wise way. But you deny this model, so it seems be the former. If it is the former, then you are saying there are true appearance and false appearances without any basis but preference, since you also say that all appearance are illusory. If conventional truths are false but if it is observable, in its effects and powers to change, as a dream, why does that make it any less real?

logic is the sheepdog. reality is an unlimited dream that we just might never understand. well i think you missed my point but i'm not going to try harder than that to make it again. sorry i reminded you of your dad in an unpleasant way. the saying is no less true.

taoist ways of turning stress into vitality smoking herb, growing herbs rollercoasters living in a state of wanton abandon clear the mind of symbols think of the universal love and oneness taking time slowing down savoring detail empathizing cultivating animistic kindness and perception to see all as alive is to live forever, is the most heavenly and equanimous, it is the seeing of spirit itself kamis of wanti poets and the true jewish mystics, (and all of it in turn, freely coming together and apart, in simple benevolence) angels upon seas of rocks becoming trees speaking and growing, the fabric of earth and the universe Mother, you are everywhere guiding, you are old yet young you are within me, as I care for nature, and in the moon and sun as they call me, through the world they are woven, with their rays, their love, and brought together by their gathering, this festival, the stars, we dance and see and dance and see, divining on the walls like the lights of the water on the cave walls, we had painted the sky there, and so it truly appeared things were so true then, we had really made them, by the magic of tricksters the seamsters, of the universe, just a humor, a nothingness, a change of the angle, for that eternal wave which is ness, coming our language is the grooves, it has left, like a volcano long ago yet still shifting, everything is growing like the plants in this garden of oatenlia, the wood town where we rest our heads adventurers upon our steady treading stead, elves taking home in the trees, alora the witch and her broom of good tidings, we fly long in peace, ever living, in ways hard to understand, fading away, and coming back vibrations, all of it, of an eternal truth, i've seen it reveal itself like the face of God, so much emptiness, like the buddha and so much compassion and living like the Goddess all in one everywhere, always, yet we dance along the labyrinth calling in so many ways, finally the truth arises like a koan of truth, in so many simple and merely part of the grand mystery of life beforehand, something we perhaps were not meant to know, but nay, for it swirls together now, the soul, riding purely as the wholeness, like a mist scattering across an emptiness, full of the nourishing dream of life in its true real form, of the dancing energies of the dakinis among the myriad fractal infinite patterns which the river of life dances in its journey, it is a single sprout flowering in all these ways, all of us put together, it has woven and expanded, and continued and gone on, it is the tree of life, Adawapayo, sprouting from the land of Wanti, and verily, it is all things!

No i have absolutely no thoughts about how awareness began, except that one thought i just shared right there. And if i ever had a thought about the source, i would at least have already had 1000 thoughts about how the source must transcend thought and the mechanism of thought, language, in order to truly be the source. And if anyone wants to chime in here with any stupid thoughts about the origin of consciousness and awareness and the spirit, i will laugh to myself but that will be the only incendiary thing i say about it. I used to bend my head thinking "why is this" and "how could this have arisen" and I have read many theories on the subject, from many capable minds and religious/spiritual/shamanic worldviews, only to conclude that subscribing to such ideas causes a very unhealthy ossification of the psyche, dangerous in the EXTREME, because at that point at which your ego convinces you that you actually understand reality or the FIRST god damned mysterious thing about it, you will stop experiencing reality as-it-is and you will begin to perceive through the filter of reality as-you-think-it-is. so you can think "why" into your right hand, and take a shit into your left hand, but i can tell you right now which one will get full first. Thoughts of this kind aren't worth a god damned thing and are a total waste of fucking time get it? im swearing because this is actually important to understand. Reality is a subtle mystery, and deserves better than to be insulted by the notion that some ignoramus like one of us can comprehend it. Give up. Experience the dream, not your theory of "the holgraphic reality matrix of such and such" or "the square root of the speed of light times the weight of gold" or whatever nonsense your left brains produced and your right brains mistook as the oasis. Its a mirage. Sorry. The wise call it the ineffable mystery for a reason. Leave it that way, its way better for the quality of your experience.

What you fail to realize is that your version of politically correct discourse does not interest me in the slightest, and your self-important moralistic admonitions do nothing to deter me from my objectives. Your holier-than-thou attitude is really just a mask for your personal manipulations. Its unfortunate, because such a mask requires you to turn a blind eye to your own actions. The massive schism between your moralistic idealism and the actual intent you engage in is not only a weakness, but also a pernicious disease that is eating you alive. Everyone lives rent free in everyone elses head. We are all in this together. As long as your "individuality" is threatened by all the people in your head, you will have zero clue where I am coming from. It's ok, though - don't be scared. All of these people whining about non-duality not being "pretty" or "nice" enough for them is contrary enough on its face, yet somehow not obviously ridiculous to them. "One taste" does not mean everything turns into birthday cake with shiny white icing and a cherry on top. Thats an infantile dream, and I'm pretty sure you guys arent sleeping in a crib anymore. Grow up.

The PATRIOTIC Act became the new law in that the so called "war on terror" (a battlefield with no defined boundaries) takes precedent over due process, habeas corpus and the possible elimination of posse comitatus. Part of the basis for this is the "Theory of The Unitary Executive". This was the longed for wet dream of right wing extremists. There are some here that exclusively blame Obama for the new provisions in the NDAA, however, these new provisions were largely instituted by the Bush administration and Obama is continuing with his predecessors policies. The next president will do the same and more. Dr. Leo Strauss is the political philosopher whose writings influenced the NeoCon movement with the likes of Wolfowitz, Pearl, John Yoo et al. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060109_bergen.html?iframe=true&width=100%&height=100% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Unitary_Executive_Theory Edwin Meese AG who served under Reagan is an important figure to read in regards to unchecked executive power. One must be vigilant in paying attention to propaganda and the U.S. is not different than this scene from the Nuremberg rally in 1934. "Deutschland" was mentioned for the first time by Rudolph Hess. "Homeland" was introduced by the Bush administration as a way to create patriotism and a disregard for others rights. Internal security is always the cry of the oppressor!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMqdUFfxhNI

That's why the first Absolute Bodhicitta lojong is "treat everything you perceive as a dream"

I already said it all. The context or motivation or drive has been faith (in the very beginning) followed by glimpses of spiritual experience which showed me a taste of what is possible - sort of like a glimpse of paradise so you desperately want it back. I believed in buddha's words and yes if I had not met Thusness and known about Buddha and buddhism, I would be in a completely different position today. I might even be worshipping flying monsters. Do understand that I am born in a fortunate circumstance because I got acquinted with Buddhism at a young age. (Off topic, but I guess I chose to be born in this family (if you believe in rebirth) to continue my practice - my mother was seeking hard to conceive a son for a long time, and sought advice from a deity, and the deity in divination told my mother to chant Amitabha Sutra for 12 days, very soon after that I was conceived and my mother had a dream. Perhaps my antarabhava saw it fitting to be born in the family of a sincere practitioner? Plus I have vague past life memories of having learnt under a tibetan guru, possibly ... Hmm, I don't want to discuss until I have clearer memories) Had I not been born in a Buddhist family, I probably would have no idea what Buddhism is now because I haven't had any crisis or intense suffering in life that would have turned me to seek solace in spirituality. I did not find spirituality through an intense search in life for meaning or solace like many people. I already found dharma through my mother who led me to Buddhism at a young age, and later Thusness. Plus, I started learning since 2004 (through thusness's guidance to other people who had realized the I AM etc) that lots of people have awakenings so enlightenment isn't just for some rare few. This is quite interesting and empowering to say the least. The discovery of the freedom, peace, aliveness, bliss, wonder of Presence since very early days many years ago was was also part of what got me into all these stuff. Plus with Thusness's guidance, pointers, I was able to progress very fast. As for Eckhart Tolle, I didn't intend to say he has reached the summit of what is developmentally possible in spirituality. The summit is Buddhahood. I am just saying not everyone might resonate with my style of writing or other "hardcore" stuff, which is why this is not meant for all audiences, and I think no book could though indeed some are more appealing to the masses. And yes those who aren't into spirituality unfortunately will miss out some great stuff and that's a fact to me - can't deny a fact. By the way I have to thank vmarco for sharing a good link: http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j22/gurupandit.asp?page=3&ifr=srch KW: Let me just say that in a student who's got a really bad case of boomeritis—which is to say, pretty much any cultural creative out there, all fifty million strong—the internal stance is, "I'm holding on to my position and nobody can tell me what to do. My state, just as it is, has the same worth as any other." And that stance effectively aborts any real transformation. And so, for example, most of the people involved with what I call Boomeritis Buddhism even deny the importance of satori or Enlightenment or Awakening. Because that's saying some states are higher than others—and we shouldn't be judgmental. But guess what? Some states are higher. And so the entire raison d'etre of Buddhism gets tossed out the door because it offends the pluralistic ego. Yikes! AC: So the whole point is that with boomeritis, real radical transformation is against the rules. KW: Yes. Well, it has to be. .... AC: And of course, the great tragedy in all this is that the higher dimensions of human potential are often being left out of the picture. KW: I've watched this up close. I've watched the human potential movement for about thirty years. The great promise of the human potential movement was very straightforward—there are higher human potentials. Now the problem is that the green meme, the mean green meme, the boomeritis version, got hold of that and said, "Wait a minute. You're saying there are higher potentials, so does that mean I'm lower? Because that can't be right." All of a sudden it implied a judgment, and nobody's allowed to be higher because that means somebody else is going to be lower. And you're not allowed to call anybody lower; therefore nobody's allowed to be higher. So the whole human potential movement got derailed and, as we're saying, was replaced by this therapeutic self-expression, self-acceptance movement, which is fine as far as it goes, but which absolutely catastrophically prevents higher transformation. That's exactly what happened. And what I hear you calling for is the reawakening of this capacity and this desire to have a really radical transformation. The reawakening of the notion that there are higher potentials. And that means we have to awaken discriminating awareness, start making judgments about our own contracted state, and enter a relationship with a teacher who has some awareness of these higher possibilities.

Yeah it was strange when my mom called to tell me that my cousin had died.... the way I responded -- before I said anything -- just made some sounds -- she says: "You knew?" Because I did know already -- I had the thought that day that she had died. So then I had to admit the truth to her -- yes I did already know that she died. But that's the second time that's happened with my mom where she told me someone died but I had a thought-vision about the person even though I never thought of them normally at all. So both times I was not surprised to hear it and it just confirmed what I already thought. Precognition is always strange like that. I've had probably a dozen precognitive dreams now -- one dream happened in detail three years before and I wrote it down saying I thought it would predict the future....then it came true in specifics that could not in any way be coincidence -- I dreamt of my earth first activist friends standing on the roof of a house with Native American activists, holding a banner to protect a wooded area. Then the same photo appeared in the paper three years later.

Thank you all for your replies, I found your suggestions very helpful. Following up on the advice given, I did a small preparation(2-3 minutes) before falling asleep. simple stretching, accupressure and getting myself together. best thing I did last night was to put a notepad and pen at my nightstand. So bedtime around 11PM, wakeup at 7AM. Two dreams last night. I wrote down the first dream around 2AM. The second one around 6:30AM. Again stressful, very uncomfortable night. However upon wakeup, I am refreshed, relaxed. Thankfully the dreams are NOT what I feared, no deamons chasing me or torture etc, more like everyday life with a twist, and quite a twist it is. The dreams appear to be very well scripted, pre-planned like a movie. certainly something my conscious mind couldn't write. This opens up a whole new world to me, thanks again. journal writing is a great idea, otherwise my dreams expire within 1-2 hours of wake-up...

Hey humbleone. The best thing you can do is start a dream journal. Write down what is going on and take a look at it after a week, two weeks, etc, in order to ascertain themes and patterns and look at your associations with any recurring images and themes. Read your dreams like poetry and listen to them as you would to a close friend. What is your unconscious busily communicating to you? Once you begin listening, the message can evolve. We all need to be heard in order to shift. Your unconscious is talking to you avidly at he moment, sounds like you have freed up something that wants to be integrated. Good Luck with it.