Leaderboard

A complicated question without some definitions. When I think about a "higher will" I think of the "will" (if such a thing were choreographed or planned) of the unity - the Dao, or the dharmakaya, or Crowley's "Do As Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law". The "lower" will is perhaps the will we all believe we have as separate beings in a world of separate things - our thoughts and choice. As it happens, these are a delusion, whether you look at it from a non-dual perspective (Buddhism, Sufism, Daoism, etc.) or, for example, a scientific perspective. Example: Science has actually proven that your hand starts motion BEFORE you decide to pick up a glass, and that, for MOST people we actually perceive reality as much as 1/3rd of a second behind what is actually happening, INCLUDING the seemingly personally directed movement of our own bodies. (The exception is of those who are not continually pre-occupied by their thoughts). Further, no source for our thoughts has ever been discovered - there is only a correlation with thoughts arising and certain kinds of brain activity. Are they even really "our" thoughts? Most dedicated meditators have skills and experience to throw serious shade on this idea. Add to the fact that some function of the mind (or something) actually fills in the center of our vision, and you can be sure that we are likely fabricating a reality that doesn't exist in the way that we think it does. Yes there is science for all of this. As for "higher" or "divine will", this is the idea that there is some "thing" (god or whatever) has a "plan" of some sort and acts through us. This is equally flawed. Who is this we are talking about? Where are they? My suggestion is that one sticks with what can be perceived, since the reality of these ideas is actually perceptible by most with a little effort. Again, meditation is the tool of choice. To see the reality of this is a fairly simple endeavor. The cultivation of seeing from enlightened mind is actually possible when there is identification as simple awareness. You can see, moment to moment, how you construct your relative reality from your thinking process, and how, when it is arrested, that relative story of doing and thinking and subject/object relationships drops away when you stop putting effort into them. What is left is simply things as they are. That "things as they are" is in constant flux. It is change, happening in this moment. This is what your Dao, dharmakaya, or Crowley's "Do As Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law" ARE. What does enlightenment reveal? Astonishingly, it reveals what what you can see is reality, when you look at it without your thinking mind. It reveals that there is the moment, here, now. There is what is happening now. There is an awareness of that, a simple, joyful being. It has never been hidden from you, and isn't even that hard to see, really. All of your thinking, brooding, and conceptualizing has never gotten you closer to seeing it.

Hi everyone! I allways read about Taichi, Budhism, Hindu, i meditate, i have practice Kung-fu North Shaolin long ago. I want to learn more about deep meditation, chackras, and share experiencies to evolve togheter! I read a lot about energetic Fields, etc. Thank you

Maybe a little evil is okay... like I ate two donuts yesterday. There was this donut demon screaming in my ear and I embraced her, and I liked it... : ) There was nothing the broccoli deity could do to save me.

Synchronicity happening. Recently I have developed a wish to study and work with chakras. In fact, an aquitance sent me an audio file (frequency) just a few days ago that is supposed to work on the root chakra. I hope this is something we can explore together

Beautifully written, @stirling. It made me think about the garden of Eden and the subsequent fall. Until man ate from the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, we excisted in a state of harmony and oneness. But with knowledge came the fall. The fall from oneness to seperation, from unity to shame. Best wishes.

.... when you get woken up by an early phone call one of those 'you better sit down for this ' ones . I tried to help the kid for years, on and off ; from when he was a toddler up to late 20s . The son of my closest female friend I have at the moment . He has been 'up and down' , last I saw him he didnt look good ... I got that flashing red light thing happening . I told his mum but she was overly mother defensive , claiming she thought he looked good . I said '' What ? We both KNOW he is not 'good' . '' she sad I knocked the bottom out of her world . .. sometimes one just cant get through to another . Anyway , it all broke loose last night . He killed his best friend with an ax at a local camp ground . Areas taped off by police , people totally freaked out , cops be everywhere soon , friend's 'axe murderer son' at large ..... HOOOO - BOY ! I better move into 'high support mode ' .

I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but your message felt so happy—like a teacher proud of a student’s progress, haha! It made me want to say thank you for your kindness and generous support. I feel so lucky to learn and grow with the help of people like you. truly inspiring!

You are making progress, just continue with what you are doing. Your breathing will be much deeper and deeper. It will become your natural breathing habit. Just breathe like that normally, then, you won't have to be concerned with breathing as you would have before you practiced qigong. Best of all, your body will carry out all the biological functions to keep your body in tune. FYI The metabolism is the healing system. It will repair any damage to the body cells to keep your body in tip top shape. That is progress from the long time practice of qigong. Progress is not accomplished by the hours practice per day. Rather it is by the diligent practice every day for many years to come.

I find it really fascinating to reflect on these things. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what many Qigong forms are actually pointing toward. To me, it often feels like they aim at realizing that we are not only the physical body — or at least that our identity is not limited to it. That through practice, something in our sense of self expands beyond purely physical experience. In that sense, Qigong can also be seen as a model of consciousness development. It shifts perception. It changes how we experience ourselves. This makes me wonder about people whose consciousness is already significantly altered or destabilized, for example in severe psychological conditions like schizophrenia, which you just mentioned. I once read that schizophrenia can involve being deeply immersed in one’s own inner world — a world that feels real and coherent to the person, but cannot easily be shared with others. If that is the case, I wonder how internal practices like Qigong interact with that. On one hand, I have a lot of respect for people who, despite serious psychological struggles, have practiced Qigong and found stability or healing through it. On the other hand, I can imagine that without grounding, self-awareness, and proper support, practices that intensify inner perception could become destabilizing rather than integrating. This connects back to the tree metaphor: If the roots are not strong and deep, movement in the crown can become chaotic. I also feel that this is a sensitive and complex topic, and I may not fully understand it. I’m still reflecting on it. And maybe this is where the role of guidance becomes essential. When going deeper into internal training, especially beyond the basics, I feel it is very difficult to do so without a good school or an experienced teacher. One can only hope that when the student is truly ready, the right teacher appears — because deeper Qigong without proper guidance seems challenging and potentially risky.

Be frank, nothing in this world fits you perfectly. Even if you find something best fit today, the environment or yourself will change tomorrow. The easiest way is just enroll into different courses and find the suitable one. And you practise the one in your arsenal which helps you most at that very moment in time.

“This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can … reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that’s what I mean by ‘Hallelujah.’” — Leonard Cohen