Choosing the spiritual path in life

[soaren]

Basically feel like I'm alone, like I'm in the middle of an endless desert by myself, trying to navigate enlightenment without the light of the sun or moon to guide me.

 

I came here looking for some guidance. Enlightenment is really depressing. People act like it's uplifting and beautiful but I don't buy it. It's the act of realizing this world is just 100% BS, there's really nothing here to do to feel fulfilled once you stop caring about material wealth. The main reason why I signed up is because I'm looking for some guidance in the respect that, (this is coming from a Westerner in the USA), what do you do in life once you stop caring about material possessions? How can I meet similar minded people (I'm not the most romantically compatible guy with the vast majority of women in this country)? What should I aspire to obtain now that shiny pretty things is crossed off my TODO list of life?

 

I understand that the world is run by a very few evil group of people. I understand history as it occured, not as it was written (and I was taught in school...). The only thing that I can manage to grasp onto that has any remote importance in my life anymore is personal development. My mental attitude (been working on it for years) has gotten to the point where I need (physical) discipline, which is why I am now weightlifting and doing martial arts 5 times a week plus. And then when I reach my goals in those disciplines, then what? What comes next? Do I just meditate with a killer six pack body capable of breaking many boards lined up in a row until I die?

 

The thing, that honestly scares me in a way, is that I am not depressed. I am not suicidal. I don't "need help". I'm unlinked from the materialistic paradigm that the vast majorty of people in my society are hopelessly attached to.

 

What do I do now? Is feeling this way normal? Have any of you experienced this? What did you do to solve it?

 

Maybe I'm missing my "old mind" drive to obtain things to look cool. I know I can never go back to that mindset, and I don't want to. I just feel like I have no energy, that I'm just a zombie, that I have no drive or aspirations anymore, mainly because I just don't know what my next target is in life.

 

Thanks,

 

soaren

Student of the Path of the Dao.

[Chang]

Hello and welcome to the Tao Bums.

 

Hopefully you will be able to guidance and advice on the forum but before getting started with that please take the time to read the two posts pinned at the top of the Lobby and also the forum terms and rules http://thetaobums.com/topic/19575-forum-terms-rules/ This covers all that you need be aware of before starting to post.

 

Good luck and best wishes,

 

Chang.

[RiverSnake]

You can't change others. It's hard enough to change yourself. Seems like your just feeling the growing pains of development....keep practicing you'll adapt and be fine.....by cultivating and bringing light into our jobs/careers were are in fact making the world a little bit better everyday. Welcome to TTB.

 

My 2 cents, Peace

Edited December 16, 2013 by OldChi

[Brian]

Greetings, soaren, and welcome.

 

Sounds to me like you have wandered off the path and into a gloomy hollow.

 

"Why does everyone say this path has great views? All I see are some moldy old tree stumps and a dead squirrel..."

 

When this happens on a hike, you stop, take a look around, and find your way back to the trail -- perhaps by backtracking along the last leg of your journey or perhaps by bushwhacking towards the ridgeline. Or, if you think there might be others around, you might call out for guidance or assistance, which is what I think you are doing here.

 

Read extensively on this forum, focusing on things related to the Tao (rather than the many distractions and family bickerings you'll find). Don't be offended if you receive advice that is counter to the way you think things are or the way you think things should be or the way you want things to be. Tell us about your spiritual/energetic practice -- are you practicing qigong or doing meditation or yoga; do you have a teacher; what martial art do you practice; do you have an MA teacher and what does he/she say about your state of mind?

 

The path is only bleak if you want it to be, my friend, and some of the views are spectacular.

 

 

BTW, the town I live in is in the valley below.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Brian

[gatito]

@ soaren

You would probably find secular mindfuness helpful

I'd suggest starting with Jon Kabbat-Zinn's* Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment-and Your Life

 

Buy the copy that includes the CD with various practices and do them for a few months - secular mindfulness has been clinically evaluated and it actually works.

 

Soundtracks on the CD: -

 

01 Eating Meditation

02 Mindfulness of Breathing

03 Mindfulness of the Body as a Whole

04 Mindfulness of Sound, Thoughts and Emotions

05 Mindfulness as Pure Awareness

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

*Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is the founder and director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Preventative and Behavioral Medicine. His clinic was featured in 1993 in the public television series Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the author of Wherever You Go, There You Are and Full-Catastrophe Living: Using Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness.

 

He is internationally known for his work as a scientist, writer, and meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He is professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

 

[soaring crane]

Hi Soaren - I see many of my own feelings and experiences reflected in your post. I often feel exactly as you describe. I don't know if it's normal or not, and I don't have any suggestions at the moment but it was good that you wrote that you're not depressed.

 

Just keep on keepin on and see what comes your way for now.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Well it's not always awesome and beautiful on the way, you have to purify yourself first, and sometimes during this process things can seem pretty bleak for a time.

 

Not having attachment to mundane stuff is helpful, it is one less thing you grasp after.

 

Also when we give up one way of life, our mind etc. tries to either get it back or replace it with something else. This will pass.

 

There is much more to life than that stuff though, such as...

 

Love (I mean more than just of people)

Music

Art (especially doing your own)

Hiking (goes to visit Brian)

Exploring

Experimenting

Inventing

Being

Reading

Bagua ( )

 

and of course whatever else brings you personally the most joy and fulfillment.

 

To meet similar people, well after a time of practice you just sort of attract them and they attract you, and naturally those who are stuck in ways you have left behind seem to just fall away.

 

If you can meet your martial arts goals within the first 10-20 years, you might want to find a teacher who's path/practice goes deeper .

 

I think that as you follow your path and things open up more and more to you, then you will have things which you seek to go deeper into.

 

Btw, do you have a spiritual practice at all? Is that of interest to you? You mentioned enlightenment, so I'm figuring so?

 

No worries, eventually things will settle out and make more sense.

[Brian]

Well it's not always awesome and beautiful on the way, you have to purify yourself first, and sometimes during this process things can seem pretty bleak for a time.

 

Not having attachment to mundane stuff is helpful, it is one less thing you grasp after.

 

Also when we give up one way of life, our mind etc. tries to either get it back or replace it with something else. This will pass.

 

There is much more to life than that stuff though, such as...

 

Love (I mean more than just of people)

Music

Art (especially doing your own)

Hiking (goes to visit Brian)

Exploring

Experimenting

Inventing

Being

Reading

Bagua ( )

 

and of course whatever else brings you personally the most joy and fulfillment.

 

To meet similar people, well after a time of practice you just sort of attract them and they attract you, and naturally those who are stuck in ways you have left behind seem to just fall away.

 

If you can meet your martial arts goals within the first 10-20 years, you might want to find a teacher who's path/practice goes deeper .

 

I think that as you follow your path and things open up more and more to you, then you will have things which you seek to go deeper into.

 

Btw, do you have a spiritual practice at all? Is that of interest to you? You mentioned enlightenment, so I'm figuring so?

 

No worries, eventually things will settle out and make more sense.

Thank you, BKA -- and I didn't really mean to suggest that life is just a bowl of cherries, even though it sounded that way.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Thank you, BKA -- and I didn't really mean to suggest that life is just a bowl of cherries, even though it sounded that way.

 

I don't know, does that valley have cherry trees?

[Brian]

 

I don't know, does that valley have cherry trees?

Some, including black cherry. Apple is the predominant wild fruit, though. Blueberries are abundant in the higher elevations (they love the peaks) and blackberries as big as your thumb clog the meadows and valleys late in the year. We are blessed with biodiversity.

[Jadespear]

Hey man,

 

Buddhism focuses mainly on the suffering aspect of life because that is what a man who lived long ago taught about. So if you listen to that and attempt to believe and follow it, of course you will be depressed. But, your not the man who laid down 4 noble truths or anything right? So let them think their way, and you think your way. "Truth is a pathless land." - Krishnamurti.

 

 

You might like a book I found online one day, that has totally changed my life forever: "The Man who Saw God." by Joseph Pagen.

 

I wanted to see what the truth was about every religious thought and concept of God, nothing else really mattered to me on my "spiritual path". Perhaps God has the answers, perhaps it does not. Perhaps just perhaps, I am God, you are God, and God is just another word to describe the unifying aspect of everything in existence. And Perhaps, through reaching through the depths of existence I may find what I am looking for. And perhaps as well How I relate to universe, I in my total consummate form. Only then would I venture to say I have been enlightened in any way beyond normal human awareness, and only after continued proof.

 

Seek the truth, leave all belief behind.

 

Isn't it amazing what you can do, when you are still, rooted in the now?

[soaren]

I meditated on this last night right after the post because realizing I had actually gotten to the point where I had posted it had made me really upset.

 

Then I realized this, maybe you'll agree with me here: There are really two major paradigms of thought that you can pursue in this universe, what is outside of you, and what is inside of you. Since Big Screen TV's and shiny cars are outside of me and I don't really care about those things anymore, maybe I need to open the sale flier in my mind and see what practicing spirituality in action can buy inside of myself. It hasn't really brought back those feelings I had before, but I suppose it is a start. I'm going to meditiate on this for a few days and see if that's really how I need to think to get out of this rut.

Appreciate the advice guys! Keep it coming! Thanks! Glad to be here! Need more people to talk to!

 

- Soaren

[soaring crane]

Absolutely - turn inward, it's where you belong. Make the shift from the macrocosm to the microcosm and you'll start to find all kinds of cool stuff to occupy your time :-)

[BaguaKicksAss]

Joy is 20% off this week .

 

If I was better with photoshop I could have a lot of fun with this!

[C T]

Some, including black cherry. Apple is the predominant wild fruit, though. Blueberries are abundant in the higher elevations (they love the peaks) and blackberries as big as your thumb clog the meadows and valleys late in the year. We are blessed with biodiversity.

lucky chap.

[C T]

I meditated on this last night right after the post because realizing I had actually gotten to the point where I had posted it had made me really upset.

 

Then I realized this, maybe you'll agree with me here: There are really two major paradigms of thought that you can pursue in this universe, what is outside of you, and what is inside of you. Since Big Screen TV's and shiny cars are outside of me and I don't really care about those things anymore, maybe I need to open the sale flier in my mind and see what practicing spirituality in action can buy inside of myself. It hasn't really brought back those feelings I had before, but I suppose it is a start. I'm going to meditiate on this for a few days and see if that's really how I need to think to get out of this rut.

 

Appreciate the advice guys! Keep it coming! Thanks! Glad to be here! Need more people to talk to!

 

- Soaren

i think everything is actually inside, but most times, we do not have the right perception or wisdom to consider it in that non-dual sort of way, and that is where we could begin to experience confusion/bewilderment over certain experiences which reveal themselves to us in a manner that we find either quite amusing/pleasurable/right, or quite the opposite, and this could then arouse in the experiencer some level of grasping, or aversion, depending on the way we have been conditioned due to our past thoughts and values.

[soaren]

Joy is 20% off this week .

 

If I was better with photoshop I could have a lot of fun with this!

 

Haha it's funny because that's actually how I thought about it, and when I had that thought it made me giggle to myself.

 

I mean, jokes aside, learning about your world, having a personal epiphany, reading a spiritual text or two, meditating for even 15 minutes or hitting the dojo does really make it easier to be happy, easier to be content, easier to be alive really.