Leaderboard

He sure will. I'm still running away.

In the West we're considered to have 5 senses**. I was told in the East it's 6 senses, with applied imagination, ie how well we can turn the minutiae of tiny almost subliminal cues into a full real picture, being the 6th. **Did they include a magnetic compass-like feature as 6th sense. Some people, like birds have enough iron near the eyes. researching.. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/17/the_odd_body_nose_compass/ Do humans have a compass in their nose? Asked by Lee Staniforth of Manchester, UK Some years ago scientists at CALTECH (California Institute of Technology in Pasadena) discovered that humans possess a tiny, shiny crystal of magnetite in the ethmoid bone, located between your eyes, just behind the nose. Magnetite is a magnetic mineral also possessed by homing pigeons, migratory salmon, dolphins, honeybees, and bats. Indeed, some bacteria even contain strands of magnetite that function, according to Dr Charles Walcott of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, "as tiny compass needles, allowing them [the bacteria] to orient themselves in the earth's magnetic field and swim down to their happy home in the mud". It seems that magnetite helps direction finding in animals and helps migratory species migrate successfully by allowing them to draw upon the earth's magnetic fields. But scientists are not sure how they do this.

Agreed. The first big energetic opening can shift your perspective big time. And while it’s a major turning point, I also feel it’s where the “real work” begins. Like up to that point, your just trying to “get there”. And once your “there”, then you realize it’s about being here. And “here” has its own stuff you were never aware of before. 😄 Always new stuff that’s unfolding - it is never done.

Very beautiful! I have an interesting relationship with devotion. Too often, there is a subtle questioning there - not so much a doubt but self-judgement. Disappointing to say I'm still good at that. Swimming in muck, forgetting it's perfect. And in the right space, as you say, devotion is inevitable. It's both a fuel and an expression. It is simply what I am - uncanny how consistent the experience. The space opens and is filled with it, overflowing. I appreciate you sharing so freely.

Devotion and Worship may be something you secretly dispise or are attracted to. It can be for some a sign of giving up on autonomy and or willful self journeying and isolation from mass hysteria and lazy followership. But it has nothing to do with these things - though all elements of human frailty may be found as is true everywhere. In abiding wakefulness grace is ever present - gratitude pours forth to nothing - it is not in devotion - it is the light But Devotion simply dawns - it dawns as one sheds the ebbing rude coarseness that stood solid on so many willful grounds of insanity and ignorance. In the beautiful stillness - the boundless Presence - the magnificence and majesty - Devotion is camaraderie with the highest light. It is attending a dance with Angels. IN NOTHING great transcendence radiates within - one cannot but be in devotion. It is not a choice or a falling or failing - it is the twilight of all holding - the touch of one finger to the hand of Divine Essence in Living Light. Love unbounded - unbinding

I talked to Shiva... he said it is all under control. No need to worry about it

But we know someone who does. I wonder if the OP knows him too?

Yeah but apart from that what's wrong with her?

Hi Spotless! the post was written by Lorne and Lucia Hoff from Canada. they are not very famous but they have a good record of people waking up in their retreats (as far as i know should be over 2 dozens now). They do vids and retreats that do not focus much on the mind but mostly are a talk from "SELF to SELF". https://www.lucialorn.net/ there are others who speak about this further unfolding now. www.davidya.ca (he has also written a book about the stages of consciousness and also has 2 batgap interviews). Even Adyashanti talks about the "beyond/prior to consciounsess" stage now as does Kristin Kirk and Jac o Keefe. (i think the first who did this in the more modern time was nisargadatta maharaj, who spoke about that towards the end of his life) To me that is an important step...knowing that no matter how final pure awareness feels...there is acutally "something" beyond that awarness. best

You are simply one of those who is one of those who has decided more early on in life to care more fully about how they feel. Thus you have more acces to infinite intelligence. You simply are more capable of allowing yourself, just as you always allow yourself to feel better in any given moment, to have more full accessed, through you flowing, connected acknowledgement, awareness, realisation, of what it is you do want, to know or be, that is always one and the same thing as your ever greater becoming and knowing, etc. And in this, you can develop a sense or intuition of people and how their life experience is always a perfect reflection of their ever greater becoming and purpose in life, and how they are either allowing themselves in the moment more or not, to become all that they are destined evermore to become, which determines their resultant life experiences as they are choosing those experience from their ever so obvious current in the mode state of allowance/resistance, that is always extremely obvious in the moment of their emmiting their state of being of their choosing, indicated by their emotions, energy in motions, in how they act, talk or be, as their current mode of energy in motion, and emotional expression, that is a resultant condition evermore of their relationship of their physical being and physical minds alignment or misalignment with their greater non-physical consciousness and it's infinite knowing, in its ever state of being and becoming, evermore. You became conscious of it, because you realise everyone else will eventually want to do the same anyway, and be more unconditionally knowing, intuitive, enjoying, appreciating, loving, free, empowered, etc. so there being no rush, you have no reason to wait for anyone, and you can simply allow yourself to go ahead in your ever greater becoming, in a more unconditional way, and thus more enjoyable way aswel, and so you simply do that. Cause life is that simple. And often it takes years maybe life times for many humans to come to understand how simple it really is, and how simple they thus then can allow it to be evermore, and how much more magnificence, elegant complexity and beauty can arise out of that simple knowing so ever much more. If the building blocks of creation were not simple, it would have crumbled a long time ago under the weight of its own complexity. And yet it hasn't. And yet, there is infinite variety and complexity and possibility to be found, in the absolute notion that truely everything exists, and there is thus then no room in non-existance for all the things that do exists. In our day and age so many people are making huge discoveries that come forth from so simple knowings. Because so many are being taught to think complex. To be hard on themselves. Only to find themselves re-oriented back into the simplicity and magnificence and elegance of past discoveries that they themselves had not even yet allowed themselves to reach, due to their dissallowing of themselves to think in simple terms, and fine tune their simple fundemental understandings of the foundational and simple fundemental building blocks of life. Which is simply this energy in motion that underlies the creation of every single physical life experience. And this motion is begotten by the observer that choosing to focus their mind creator mechanism on things that are of its nature or not. And the resultant physical manifestation is always relating to the creator/allower of that experience, and that relationship is always fully indicated by their emotions, in their moment of creating. And those energy in motions can even be found in their creations even long after they are gone, as long as people decide to focus on their thought forms, even if and when they do not align with their greater and more true nature of being. We did not however come here to create or choose in the life of others. We came here to create our own life. And you can already see that. And know that. Which is good. But there is no such thing, as you already know, as a prediction of the future. Because even knowing it, gives you the ability to change it, does it not? Otherwise you would not offer them that reflection of who they are choosing to be in any given moment. That is the value of psychics or energy readers. Not to accept the energy, but to become more fully aware of your own energy and how obvious it is that even someone outside of you can become aware of it, that then gives you the ability to become more conscious of your own energy yourself aswell! And thus then choose a different energy incase you don't like your current one. Ever more, as you're always gonna reach for an even better place. And even better yet. And even better yet again, and again. As every new now, is a new now. As all is here and now is forever. So you always have the full ability to do all that you need to do what it is you need to do in every single moment, and what you don't have the ability to do, you don't need to do it in the moment you don't need to do it. And you always have the ability to know what you need to know, when you need to know it, and what you don't have the ability to know, in that moment, you don't need to know it, in the moment that you don't need to know it and don't know it. And when you do need to know it, you will know it. Our physical mind is never designed to carry the weight that it was not designed to carry. Our physical mind is not the creator of thoughts, but the allower of thoughts. The receiver of the thoughts that come from our higher mind, our greater inner knowing. And we are always connected to that, no matter our degree of allowing/resisting that connection. Because we are part of the reason of our own greater non-physical expansion of ever more becoming. We are the ones who created all of our desires, that our non-physical greater consciousness always holds steadily for us in it's ever state of evermore becoming, including all the physical becomings of all of that, which can always be allowed here and now, unconditionally. By virtue of your focusing your creator mind mechanism and by virtue of how you are feeling emotionally as you are utilizing your conscious ability to focus and decide on what to focus more fully and on what less. And because your physical mind is only created to enjoy the physical life experience which is here, and leave the rest to your higher minds knowing, you don't need to see the entire future and what is the best possible path for you to take towards the fulfillment of all that is what it is you truely want, in order to allow yourself to simple follow the guidance that is layed out before you evermore in your here and now moment. As it is presented to you by your higher mind in the form of something that feels exciting, that fills you with passion, and inspires you to move forwards, evermore. And when you do move towards it, when you allow yourself to trust your inner knowing, and the indication of your own alignment with your greater inner/higher knowing, of your emotions. You thus then have a new experience, as a result of it, in your choosing of your being one with your freedom, and thus you grow as a result of that experience. And thus experience then clarifies even more so of all that is who it is you truely are and are ment to become evermore, evermore. Even the so called negative experiences, as a result of your deviating from following your passion in life more fully, exist solely to remind you of what it is you do truely want, EVER so much more clearly. Giving you ever so more greater ability to act on this more knowing of what it is you do want so much more clearly and accurately and so much more fine tuned, and poinantly and precisely and accurately and succesfully. And it is thus also one of the many ways that your greater non-physical consciousness has the ability to guide you towards, your ever greater becoming that you are forever ment to be the evermore greater becoming of it all.

Yes, I woke up ( out on the front lawn ) and I am still alive ! - great day . 'Intuition' seems a good term for it. If one realises what intuition actually is. The most successfully intuitive people are those who are very familiar in the field in which their intuition operates. Eg, Nurses with long term experience may have good intuition regarding medical issues. This tells us a LOT ! Basically, intuition is a process where we have taken in information ( and perhaps we are not aware / conscious of this process), processed it internally or via the unconscious, and then the results and conclusions pass into the conscious awareness ... sometimes 'like a flash' ... seemingly unconnected to any deduction process. I liken it to a computer ; so much calculation,and analysis is going on inside it, yet I just read the screen for the results . When developed ad managed properly - it is an invaluable tool . Some people do not have it at all - they cant 'see things coming' that to others are obvious ... sometimes painfully obvious ! Even to this extent ... this guy visits me, others are here, he sits on the floor by the wood burning heater ... he touches the metal lightly, then less lightly, then ... "OWW! Thats hot ! " Then he goes : "Can I use your sissors ? " A miute later " Have you got a bandaid ? " The he starts poking at the kettle on the wood stove ... Me : "Dont do that, you will tip hot water on yourself. " I was giving away a car, he wanted it, I said "No, not for you, you will smash it within a month." So he got one somewhere else ... smashed it within a month. - and people think I am 'psychic' ! Perhaps not, as I think it realtes to the unconscious aspects of the mind, that are either developing more, or the link between it and your conscious mind ( recieving the 'results' ) is developing more. Well, I didnt find it hard to cope with . It was a little confusing and frustrating coping with others though ; I was confused about why others couldnt see the train about to hit them or the $100 bill underfoot. I am coping with ot better after realising soe people have a type of reverse Dunning–Kruger effect - that is, they have specific skill sets that they assume other people have ... they dont see themselves as especially smart or intelligent and have difficulty comprehending some actions and lacks of realisations and consequences of actions that some others show.

I fill my belly with beer. From my waist down, it feels like I am walking on slippery Mud. And my head is full of spirits, my awareness seems to be shifting and unable to focus. 😁

I just don’t sleep.

Do we have one of those yet? It's not a bad idea.

Like you said, the intuition/inner knowing/feeling. Its not that we shut the mind off completely, the mind is a tool - just not our only tool. Your beginning to recognize and use a new way of being. Instead of being in the mind most of the time.

It is not possible to fight with or destroy with the emptiness of void. If there is fighting, there is no emptiness. The Tao Te Ching explains it well... FORTY-THREE The softest thing in the universe Overcomes the hardest thing in the universe. That without substance can enter where there is no room. Hence I know the value of non-action. Teaching without words and working without doing Are understood by very few.

I wouldn’t bother trying to understand it (although it’s tempting to try). Any mental concept would most likely get in the way, rather than help. Just let it be.

Hi! mmmhhhh we have to be careful with words here......and i do not want a discussion. that the physical and energetic bodies go through further unfoldment there is no doubt about that..... however what i quoted does speak about the further unfolding of consciousness/awareness itself....quote: 'States of Consciousness' does not mean states of individual consciousness. It means states of Consciousness itself. Consciousness itself is an unbounded field of pure Awareness. you call that Self awake presence.....to me that sounds like that.....however there is unfolding beyond this awake presence...it actually feels like loosing it or falling out of it......to some that is deeply shocking.....but as it stabalizes a new perspective comes online and it is seen that even pure awareness is still a veil over true reality. David joked about a guy who thought he was finished for the 3 times now :-) Ahh you have seen Davids batgap interviews! great! he is not the greatest speaker but the only one who (as far as i know) speaks from what is called pure divinity which is sometimes called "source of the source" because from there it is seen that it is the source of the Self aware presence. To me there are 2 types of unity...one before the awakening to pure aware being and the other (the one that is described in the text from Lorne and Lucia) is when awake presence/being reconizes itself fully in the creation...so that happens after an initial abiding awakening. With the loosing of personhood....i would say the identification is lost ..not the personhood. to me it seems like there is much more to these "lets call them states" than we currently know. There is just too much variance and i shy away from this is the true unfolding and this is not. From a lineage perspective to me an authentic Tamil siddha lineage (through Pal Pandian) is the most complete system/teaching i am aware of. best

Agreed A hot topic and an important one is the clear understanding that unfolding does not cease in Awakening. The emerging refocus has been Awaken and expand in Presence/Self. I don’t quite agree with: ”there is acutally "something" beyond that awarness.” It is in Self - Abiding Awakened Presence that further unfolding occurs. Also a note: Unity Consciousness can and often does preceed Awakening and can appear to be Awakening when it is far less. It is also possible to incrementally achieve it whereas it is quite rare in Awakening. Certainly some incremental happenings are at work in both but rarely does Awakening not at some point feel like it was a dramatic shift vs Unity is fairly frequently not a radical shift in one moment to the next. I am familiar with the interviews you mentioned. Many of the new workshops out there work toward Awakening directly and speak to continued work afterward in coming to abide in the often disorienting aftermath and then also go on to offer support in further settling and guidance in what may be in store. Without Awakening It is possible to consider one’s achievements to be considerably higher than believed. This is abundantly clear in those taken in by siddhis. While having achieved much - much is barred from them. It is also possible to have considerable achievement without Awakening. It is a tremendous help to have previous practice and an excellent basic foundation prior to Awakening. The refocus on Awakening is a real byproduct of so many now Awakening. It has changed teachings around the globe in many ways. High level schools that have been imbedded in ancient traditions are often unequiped for a student who goes off to a retreat and comes back awoken - because many groups do not have Awakened teachers but rather those “steeped in the teachings” which may or may not be helpful if no one is actually awake. Many very fine lineage teachers are not Awake and teach from good sense and innate and careful translation - but they often have little to nothing to offer a newly Awakened student - in fact they can be completely off in their directions and disquieting to the abidance. The emergence of these interviews and a collective of Awakened teachers of various traditions that can be looked up and contacted is basically a new and incredible phenomenon! When I was young the thought of even meeting such a person was a pretty incredible distant hope. You can now look one up and call them or arrange a meeting in person or via Skype/ Zoom etc. This idea can make some people’s stomachs turn - but it is true - many are true Awakened teachers and they are accessible until they are not so accessible. The fact also remains - many seekers are not really seekers - they are terrified of Awakening -?loss of self/personhood. It is common to want Awakening through personhood - throwing only “the trash” out. Personhood/identification never considers its best positions trash and so the grasp is held in epoxy.

Hot, hotter. Cold, colder. Can you feel the difference? Yes, yesser. No, noer. It is your emotional sense of energy in motion, letting you know wether or not you are in alignment with your own inner greater knowing, as a non-physical greater consciousness soul of pure positive energy and infinite intelligence and Source of All Creation, etc. Wether or not you are flowing with it, or against that stream of abbounding well-being and of all the good things that are for you evermore. This relationship between your physical you and your non-physical greater YOU, is always perfectly indicated, always here and now, by your emotions, as you are focusing your mind creator mechanism. You could focus more on the first part you mention that felt good to you, and this focusing causes that energy to expand for you, effortlessly, as you simply allow yourself to enjoy that knowing and how good it feels. That is all that is required. To simply place your attention on what does feel good, or better, to you. It is simply the law of momentum and how energy works. And it is how you as a consciousness operate, including your physical you. You simply focus on what you want, and you allow the ever greater realisation of it, from within and without. Whenever I know what I don't want, I know more clearly what I do want aswell. So blessed be the contrast of life, that allows me to focus in this environment of tremendous variety. For the sole purpose of my very own ever greater personal satisfaction, evermore.

My comment seems to have created a pretty little cloud. I don't always share a whole lot, and at the same time a sentence can include a whole mountain. Three decades ago I was a teenager whose mother was suicidal and fluctuated (sometimes very rapidly) between loving and violent. One day I got off the bus to walk up the dead end road we lived on. The breeze touched my skin, and the thoughts fell away, the anxiety and fear fell away - everything I was holding fell away as the breeze danced across my skin. Yes, everything shifted at that point. Soo very simple, and soo very plain.. And not anything I'd label enlightenment. Years later I was given The Power of Now as a gift by someone who said they kept hearing my voice as they read the words of another. I thought Tolle used too many words. There has been much unfolding since then, a few pitfalls I managed to stumble into. And some kind souls who offered a hand to guide me out. I've noticed one thing about my personal pitfalls, and that's that they become such due to the thoughts and stories I wrapped them in - even if the stories were pretty. And this is important ..

Welcome. I would suggest that you ignore the Mantak Chia stuff as you are already energetically beyond it. You are at the point where you want to start focusing more on the relative polarities of the energy. Maybe take a look at chapter 28 of the Tao Te Ching, as you have already begun to understand the strength of a man, but the heart of a woman (other polarity) is just as important. Best, Jeff

To me they seem flexible, and your question made me re-examine that. Two things I found: 1. There is some actual flexibility in the PVC, varying with width n’ length. 2. The other part that makes is seem (feel) more flexible in my practice is keeping the integration of my fascia structure~movement in my body and extended to include the ‘weapon’. Meaning, that kind of rubbery feeling when my body is warmed up and moving in the more whole-body qigongy way. And no joint is cranked much further than any other joint. That long whole-body rubbery thing. (Maybe some of you other guys know the correct words for this. I don’t.). The ‘sword’ is included in that... so its’ movements kinda feel rubbery circular and angles about the same as my own joints~limbs. So it feels flexible. ... or maybe *I* do, and the way I am including the ‘sword’ is part of & contributing to that feeling in me. And that’s where it all gets so endlessly interesting and fun.

good morning world ! you are SO beautiful today! outside my window soft sweet snow cushions and covers your cold hard still body but you are not really cold nor terribly hard nor is your motion frozen your heart is filled with swirling fire and our father sun will awaken that thin crisp life you show us where our mortal eyes touch you well, both you and we are simply gross physical manifestations of something both deeper and higher, aren't we" tho few of US know it and the few of us who do, usually forget it i'll wager you are always aware good morning world you are so beautiful every day

thanks for sharing... I found it an easy speak, plain language, street talk version... I smiled through many chapter translations. I get where he is coming from and if it attracts some to look deeper at the DDJ, then that's good.

No argument from me on any of the above... For me there is a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, I feel that I cannot know the depth or clarity of experience of another, that is - it is not my role to validate or invalidate their experience; yet there is a clarity and genuineness of presence when meeting someone directly, sometimes even digitally, that generally allows recognition. Other clear and pure voices that have spoken to and guided me - Anthony Demello, Peter Fenner, John O'Donohue, Sailor Bob Adamson (and his teacher, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, of course), Steven Harrison, Alan Watts, Jiddu Krishnamurti, many Bönpo lamas, monks, and advanced practitioners I encounter... One thing that tickles and appeals to me is the unique flavor each brings to their experience and expression of the essence. It's really beautiful and reflective of human qualities and frailties.

Only 8? It feels like more.

seems more like an 8th chance

Is he getting a 'second chance' ?

Yes, a 'rough patch' ....... just wait for your 2nd Saturn return ! ... mine was 'fun' .......... somehow, I am still alive . Venus returns are better

There's some seriously weird topics popping up lately. I think a few have been over indulging over the recent holidays.

I'd like to add that awakening as it is, is not an extraordinary occurrence. It is just abiding as our true nature, at the dissolution of identifications with this and that. Personalities don't awaken. Awareness recognizes its original nature when identification with/as the personality drops. Awareness however is always awareness, just that the localized limited personality/identity seems to be in the way. That is the strange paradox that always befuddled my mind and intellect prior to dawning of the realization in a flash -- "How can Awareness not know it's own nature if it is always present"? The fact is, awareness is always aware, just that the focus was on this, that, and personality identification.

Seems like this thread belongs in the fiction writers subforum.

I fill my belly with water. From waist down I am earth. My lungs and chest are air. My head is lightness of awareness, shifting and exploring. I keep the elements close so I can call on the one or combination that I need. addon: I'm not kidding about belly/water thing, I enjoy Rawn Clarks Archaeous series. 9 levels of hermetic elemental stacking http://abardoncompanion.de/Archaeous-Links.html Synopsis- RAWN'S SELF-HEALING ARCHAEOUS Stage #1) Healing through discerning and integrating your three bodies -- Integrating the Physical: Situate yourself comfortably. Turn your attention to your feet and relax them completely. Intimately experience every physical sensation that your feet relay to you at this moment. Slowly move your attention up your legs, relaxing and connecting with each vein, muscle, bone, organ and patch of skin. Continue upward in this manner till you have established a clear and relaxed awareness of your entire physical body. Though certainly healing in its own right, this primary step of connecting closely with your physical body, is a common one and therefore is not counted among the Archaeous' thirteen enumerated "levels" of healing. In effect, this step corresponds to zero and, quite appropriately, it is where the Archaeous both begins and ends. Integrating the Astral: With your awareness thus spread evenly throughout your physical body, expand your focus outward a few inches till you sense your astral body's vibrant energy. Though difficult to adequately describe, once it is encountered and experienced, the feeling of the astral body's "bright" energy will be unmistakable. Generally, it is physically stimulating -- for some people, it is dangerously so. Therefore, it is best to approach a conscious sensorial contact with your astral body, in controlled and small increments. Begin with just a few brief moments of contact with this energy, and then immediately restrict the focus of your awareness back down to the dimensions of your physical body. Whatever energy you feel stimulating your physical body, must then be consciously integrated into your physical muscles, bones, organs, skin, etc. By mentally guiding this bright astral energy into your physical body, into your very cellular structure itself, you effect the first level of healing in the Archaeous. Acclimate your physical body to your astral energy slowly. Your goal over time, is to be able to comfortably sense your entire astral body and consciously integrate it into your physical body. Your focus at this point is not to be upon "astral travel" or the separation of your astral form from your physical; rather, it is to be exclusively upon the integration of the two. Again, a note of caution is in order: The astral body acts as a matrix for the physical body. Its bright energy is the medium through which the mental body determines the nature of its physical vehicle. The character of the astral energy, is that it is shaped by the mental level (thought and will); and in its own turn, it shapes the physical level. Therefore, when you consciously (mentally) connect with your physical body and then expand that awareness to include your astral body, you will have opened nature's own pathways of healing. Consciously integrating your astral matrix into your physical body, grounds this bright energy into physical manifestation, bringing your physical body into closer accord with your astral matrix..

glad I don't subscribe to the OP's religion. I think we have to battle the greed and selfishness within ourselves and not project onto gods and what not. Mankinds problems are caused by well.. mankind, us. If Shiva beats up some dark goddess, we're still the same, and will create the same problems. Blaming gods for the problem of man or our own shit, doesn't get us anywhere**. Usually violence begets more violence and crappy unintended consequences. Best to work on ourselves and try to do some positive things, even the small stuff for our fellow man and our environment. **heck, maybe we're the ones driving the gods crazy. cause that's what kids do.

5 is Earth, solid center. The odd numbers form a cross of the five primary directions, compass points and even the elements as well if you like (see the gods of the four directions for correspondence). The even corners are the counterbalance of yin to the yang of the odd ones (five is still center so leave that one be) and i think they can represent turning points, like an end-of-the-line idea. The overlaps are there, i think you might find Michael Sasos chapters on the Rites of Cosmic Renewal and the Steps of Yu (spelling might differ) instersting, also refer to european magic traditions where the magic squares are connected to the planets, that should give you some glue to fill a few gaps illustration-wise but dont take it too far. You can theoretically overlap the Lo Shu square on a classic Bagua symbol with taijitu in the middle, see where that leads. I use the Lo Shu square for a few exercises but i’m not at liberty to speak on those at the moment.

Move beyond the vale To a mountain high and wild To clear head and eye.

Posting in this forum, typing each key with water mindfulness, reading each word with water focus, that may be practice by itself. An idiot practicing meditation all day all night long get tested when out of meditation. He still fails when not meditating. It is the quality, not the quantity. What is the quality of dao bums posting? Am I spreading wisdom or am I just writing my worthless 2 cents? Am I typing each key with careful water mindfulness. Fill your mind your entire body with water, the element of water, the power of water, the healing of water, the changing nature of water, the yin of water as your head keeps getting knocking backwards against the back of your bed.

Yes - but what has that to do with being awake or just dreaming? I personally once had a dream in which I dreamed to have waken up, but then after that I really woke up (not in the spiritual but in the normal sense). And it makes one wonder: could it happen that I would wake up again after that, and after that, etc. So whatever one's experiences (including spirit quests, observations on one's own body, enlightenment experiences, etc.) one simply cannot be absolutely sure that one is no longer dreaming. And that is why all absolute knowledge claims even by awakened people are unfounded. So the absolute claims of awakened people have to be considered as just as suspect as those of everybody else. And all claims of provisional knowledge by awakened people need to be validated just as all similar claims of everybody else. Of course those awakened people who are caught up in the illusion of belonging to the select few who know will flatly refuse to back up their claims by further validation. And that is why requests such as those of Still_Waters for validation are often ignored, diverted, or "answered" by remarks about the spiritual immaturity of those who dare to question the correctness of the utterances of the awakened.

Since the Lord of Death has informed a venerable DBs member of our impending doom by giving all non Asian Daobums a good arse kicking, I am offering these steel underpants, for one week only, at a special rate. Made from good quality Port Kembla Aussie steel, with reinforcing around the arse area. Dont be caught out ! Order one today !

I got a lot of thoughts about this, staff is the wu chi i’ve put most hours into and it’s exciting in its simplicity. I say a PVC pipe with end caps is all fine as a beginning tool but using a living material like hardwood, waxwood or rattan just makes the whole exercise come alive differently. I prefer rattan staffs of equal diameter all the way, same goes for spears, i been taught its called a Double Headed Serpent. Theres plenty of styles using this, many other use the Rat Tail Gwan (tapered thick to slimmer, thick end is where hands go most often), theres Olive Kernel Staff (thick middle and slim at both ends) and more i cant remember. Bamboo is not recommended no ,atter what anyone says if you’re going to use it for power or support, since the sections are hollow it’s very brittle and bamboo dries out quickly so it’ll loose its ability to transer energy a lot faster than more equally dense plants. I’m with a southern school and our approach to staff i pretty different from most i’ve seen actually. North shaolin styles often have a right hand forward weilding the power and use the left in the back for guiding support, like an anchor point. Where i come from the right hand is power and movement while the left is guiding support and the odd little flick but their position is reversed. Now all three of my teachers with staff have all been strict and stern in their own way. The first two learned from our grandmaster who is the third of my teachers and i’ve come to be pretty allergic and snobbish with staff and staff methods, i’ll try to keep it toned down. A couple of percepts to guide anyone who wants to learn staff are to follow, skip if you dont like it, i just gotta say this ok? Choose your staff well and treat it like its your closest friend. That means take care of it, don’t abandon it and keep it fresh and unhurt. If you break staffs on the regular you’re using your muscular force like a moron, no offense. Study the Wing Lam video of Lau Gar staff, especially his body alignment and footwork. These two are second and first priority respectively. Power comes from stepping and using principles of levers to transmit power. Your spine should be erect and your power should reach the staff tip a millisecond after your moving foot touches ground. The WLE video shows a huge amount of awesome staff method and technique, observe his body first and see how the staff moves after. His stepping and shifting weight is very much in control, his feet are light but as soon as one of them is supporting they’re like tree trunks of steadyness. The shift between fluid and firm is instantaneous, strive for that. I think if he’d do it on a wet beach he’d leave minimal amounts of messy gouges. The earth is providing his strenght and power, he lets it and therefore the fight between them is minimal. Now the Bamboo stick woman made my hackles rise, her entry position or at rest position is just senseless (WHY would you expose joints, staff and everything to stand in such a clumsy and slow to action posture?!) and her form and movenent is coarse, she falls into stances with her full weight (poor control), she tilts completely forward with head and shoulders as she kicks and then i had to stop watching. The exercises might be good but hers are, sadly, a poor rendition of them, sorry if this is harsh but thats my honest opinion. Again with the WLE video, he clicks the staff to the ground, he’s not hitting the ground. I’ll leave anyone who is interested to figure out what the difference means and how to use that. Target practice with stick or staff is good, it teaches you to use form, the correct amount of power and how to handle it. Notice i’m underlinging the correct amount of power, there is no need to smash and bash, you’ll break your stick. This relates to the above paragraph regarding clicking. Figure that out and you’re on a good way to actually making sense of staff power. Balance and control exercise should be coupled with intent of power exercises. If you hold the stick perfectly horizontal in one end with both hands and want to raise the tip it should move with equally distributed power in the whole stick. If someone were to give 2kg of opposition at the tip your staff should not tilt even a little bit when you raise it upwards but stay perfectly perpendicular. Try this by attaching a string with a water bottle (vary weight as you progress) so that moving the staff means that the weight immediately leaves the ground. Keep the line taut but with no resistance, the lift the bottle. Sounds easy but it can take quite some time to figure out. Try using the full lenght of your stick as a weight to train your forearm strenght and control, use only one hand and grip it off center. Try just holding it straight for a while, you’ll see what i mean Also consider studying how quickly you can change grip and grip position on the staff without dropping it. Study this in absurdum. Twirl and play, practice speed and flow and to stop right in the middle of a movement, just to challenge your control and the amount of power you unconsciously and needlessly add to it. Earth gives power to the body, the body moves the arms and the stick obeys. You’re the boss of the stick btw. It should do what you want it to do, like you finger or your head. Dont follow the stick, this is a sure way to ruin. Humblest regards from you friendly neighborhood staff-nazi, i hope someone finds this useful and pardon my rant. PS. Adding some links with suggestions for routines, will update if i find more good ones. Nice form, decent speed so you can see the movements nicely, observe how the steps and stances guide what the staff does. Very few weak positions, few silly exposures and not much of flourishy transitions like you can observe in most Yin Shao Gun from Shaolin Temple, and in all respect there’s immensly skilled people doing it.

I've spent some time listening to Tolle and can clearly tell that he is speaking from the perspective of "awake-ness". I've not listened to the others much, but I do like Mooji. For me one question posed by Papaji (in a YouTube video) brought things into perspective - "Without thinking, in a fraction of a second, tell me who you are"...that was a turning point in the process of self-inquiry for me. Wow...yes Amma...what can I even say about her? I met her only once, spent one evening in her presence and it was magnificent. The love was like sunlight...warming me up and illuminating!

I also think there is a lot of ego/media driven "grade inflation". Very common for someone to have some energetic opening, read a book, and then declare it as awakening/realization/done. Like a spiritual ego trap where you get stuck.

Mooji , Adyashanti, Tolle and Gangaji are among a few Awakened teachers that speak unwaveringly to Awakening. If you scoff do so with input of your choices of at least one living teacher who meets your criterion of Awakened. i would bet that Dwai and Steve would both agree with me on the above - as shocking as that my be 😎 Amma is another one though I have read little of her and heard little but we had quite a time together once very briefly.

When I suggested BatGap is was with the idea of the opportunity to hear now nearly 500 accounts of “ordinary” people that have Awoken. Time after time they explain in practically the same way what Steve, Dwai and myself have experienced. With slight variations these would be my exact words and I’m certain this is true for Dwai and it is easy to see from then on what is actually being said in so many teachings. In the batgap interviews many variations are discovered but there are quite a few underlying common element that lead to the awakening. And it is clear in their language if they have in fact Awakened - there a few in which they have not - but very few other than some where the interview was simply an interview with “an interesting person”. The negative reaction is a testament to just how much judgement is set off upon this stuff and how far off seekers are prior to Awakening. This is perfect 😎 Students walk in and out of these teachings all day with solid rock walls of “understanding” and EXPECTATION. The wilfulness is thick and the ear wax like epoxy. - Steve mentions a perfect simple bond with a teacher where little is said - I have had two teachers in my path and my relationship was nearly identical to his words. My most recent current teacher speaks no English - it was is never needed. Michael80 shared this - without any reference to who wrote it: Awareness of Presence or "Transcendental Consciousness" is the experience of expanded alert awareness along with profound peace and silence, either in the environment in activity, or deep within during silent meditation. There can be the feeling of detachment from the body/mind. It is a fourth definite state of consciousness unlike waking, dream or sleep. It is a precursor to the actual shift to Self-remembrance. Transcendental Consciousness is being awake to the silent peace and stillness that is the true nature of the Self. There can be many degrees of intensity and various levels of witnessing in trancendental consciousness, but the clear recognition by the Self of the Self has not yet occurred. There are millions of people around the world today experiencing varying degrees of presence consciousness.  States of Consciousness 'States of Consciousness' does not mean states of individual consciousness. It means states of Consciousness itself. Consciousness itself is an unbounded field of pure Awareness. There are distinct perspectivess of Consciousness of itself as it becomes more awake its total reality, and there are many levels of clarity of refined perception within each state. These states cannot be missed. Experience, knowledge, perception and reality are completely different in each, even though Consiousness always remains the same One Consciousness. Cosmic Consciousness or "Self Realization" is awakening to being Pure Consciousness itself. It is the first stage of Enlightenment. It is a very profound shift in your sense of being and existing, the sense of who you are. The sense of Self shifts from being the person you think you are, to being the unbounded field of Awareness itself in which the person and all perceptions exist. You discover that there is no separate individual sense of self at all. The separate individual self was an illusion that happened as a result of conditioning and the false identification with the individual body/mind. Your real Self has always been unbounded, infinite and free all along.  It is not an altered state of Consciousness. It is Being Consciousness Itself -- what you really have always been. It is not a temporary experience; it is a natural, permanent state of being. The innermost self awakens to the unboundedness of its Self and finds itself to be the silent source of everything everywhere. Even though this feels like the final step and there is nowhere else to go, it is actually only the first step in the unfoldment of Consciousness to itself.  Refined Perception in Cosmic Consciousness or "God Realization" is Consciousness' refined perception of its nature as the process of experiencing. It is the perception of the flow of divine intelligence responsible for all experience. The underlying mechanics of the process of creation is revealed. It is the experience of the flow of intelligence responsible for all thinking, feeling, perceiving, experiencing, and all form and phenomena everywhere in your entire field of perception. The cosmic dimension of the individual mind/body is revealed. It is a continually deepening process of refinement and unfoldment taking place perpetually within Consciousness, though experienced differently in each state. The shift to unity Consciousness and beyond can happen prior to the full unfoldment of the depth of experience of refined perception. Unity Consciousness or "Oneness" happens when the Self, the subject and unbounded underlying essence of all things, awakens to itself as being the objects and phenomena of experience on the surface of life. It is a transition from being the unbounded field in which everything thing is happening , to being everything everywhere in the range of perception and experience. "Consciousness is everything everywhere, and I am that Consciousness". The unbounded subject has remembered itself to also be all objects of perception. They are One. The unboundedness of the Self has entered into the mind, body, and environment. All objects in the surroundings, while remaining the same from the perspective of the senses, are experienced as my Self. The world is no longer an object in Consciousness. It is Consciousness itself. It is my Self. It is the oneness of experiencer, process of experiencing and objects of experience. All of the apparent boundaries in the world are found to be my own Consciousness in appearance. From this perspective, the world is experienced to be even more real, because it is constructed out of the material of Consciousness itself, out of my own unbounded Self. The environment is now seen as pure unmodified Consciousness in the guise of the objective modifications of body, world and universe. It is not that the world and universe are seen to be an illusion. The illusion is that the world and universe is an objcetive physical reality. It has always been Consciousness itself, my own Self, pure subjectivity. There is no longer any distinction between inner or outer. The outer is the inner, the inner is the outer. Everything everywhere is my Self. "I" am all that there is. Refined Perception Within Unity Consciousness or "Unity in God Consciousness" is a further refinement of perception from the perspective of being everything. Consciousness awakens, with further clarity, to the underlying mechanics of creation and experience. It awakens to the subtle mechanics of its own innate intelligence that is responsible for creating the appearance of all life everywhere. It is the same shift in perception mentioned above, to experiencing the refined cosmic dimension of the feelings, intellect, mind, body, personality, senses, and all objects of experience; but it is experienced from an entirely different perspective now, one of wholeness, of being all that is. It is experiencing the flow of finer flavours and layers of intelligence within the wholeness of Self. It is Consciousness awakening to its internal dynamics as the perpetual flow of itself experiencing itself. It is the experience of the ultimate reality of the depth of the Self, the totality of Consciousness, and it is all Divine.  Beyond Consciousness or "Brahman Consciousness" is a perspective prior to Consciousness, prior to Intelligence and prior to existence itself. It is neither Self nor non-Self, neither Existence nor non-Existence, neither Being nor non-Being, neither Consciousness nor non-Consciousness. It is the clearest experience of Reality. Words like universe, multi-verse, Absolute, Totality, Self, God, Being, Presence, Pure Consciousness cannot touch it. It is beyond description. It is pure Nothingness. From this perspective; the body/mind, the world and the universe are not just an illusion, they have never even come into existence. The ultimate reality of something made from nothing, is nothing, not something. The word "nothing" does not do justice to the supreme peace, perfect equanimity, unlimited freedom and total knowledge that It is. It is truly indescribable. It is exclusively self-evident to itself alone.  Refined Perception Beyond Consciousness or "Refined Brahman Consciousness" is a completely different perspective of the same refinement of perception that is perpetually happening in Consciousness. But, because it is prior to Consciousness itself, there is no perceiver, no perceiving and no perceptio in the same sense. It is perpetually swelling in all the same divine flavours and qualities of wholeness and love as experienced previously, only in a finer more exquisite delicacy and fullness, prior to differentiation or distinction. It is the subtle intentention within nothingness to know itself. It is Pure Divine Power. From this perspective, the effect--Consciousness itself, and the creative intelligence inherent in Consciousness which is responsible for the appearance of creation, is also uncaused; and as such, so too is all creation. It is beyond all understanding. Supreme Reality Another shift to an even deeper perspective occurs in this state when that Nothingness recognizes that divine power as its own pure Supreme Divinity that has been cloaked in the appearance of creation. That supreme divinity is the ultimate cause of all causes. It creates and appears as the sense of Being, Consciousness or Self; all divine creative intelligence, and all creation. It is pure divine radience. Refinement of perception of the universal body/mind continues in this state. Many of us here that have Awakened and not have considerable experience in the above. Some of us are far along in the above levels and know them well and without delusion. But talk of them on many levels is of no worth to the seeker and more often than not fills them with a sense that by careful reading they actually know something. My daily experiences are outlandish but I’ve become sick of words like awesome, incredible, immense, limitless, vastness, unbounded, etc etc etc - But I have no other words for this constant expansion and absurd energies. The first time I Awoke it knocked unconscious 3 other people in the room who only moments before were conversing with one another. The energies we absolutely beyond any slight previous comprehension and made a massive kundalini experience seem like peanuts by comparison and yet it was sustained in utter beauty and stillness. - It does nothing for a seeker to hear most of this stuff prior to Awakening. The basics of practice and the pointers to Awakening are the core of the teachings - they ARE the advanced stuff - (the secrets). The seekers have it backwards - they want to get past the basics and piece together in concept what is waiting for them. Nothing is waiting for “them” but the death of “them ness”

Actually I thought we were seeing more youth/millenials willing to give up higher pay (and hours) for more free time. They're marrying later (or not at all), having fewer kids etc., I don't see a revolution brewing but I do agree leadership is using fear to try to persuade people to there positions. Not exactly a new development but stronger then usual. Without huge need, the call for fear is less potent though. imo odds are we'll see a shift away from it. A calm level headed leader can be equally popular as the demagogue. Societally, if THEM**, who ever them are, opt for creating a more socialist policies with fewer work hours that comes at a cost too. It is a competitive world. Fall too far behind and you go bankrupt. You could go further down the rabbit hole into Communism, but that has an even larger share of problems. Communes often fail, requiring very hard work for idealistic rewards. Living simpler and thriftier is a valid choice and hopefully open to many. Probably a good solution, but all solutions take work, risk and sacrifice. Actually the U.S doing pretty well, relatively. Prosperity helps. As more people work, wages will rise. Workers will get more bargaining power and if they want fewer hours they'll get it. There's plenty of politically stupidity around, but the stalemates are largely artificial and easily solved with simple compromise. Which will grow to be inevitable. **THEM.. imo, Them tends to be a whole mess of people and groups with conflicting desires and goals. Often its the generic name for groups that oppose what you want. They're THEM, groups that agree with you are us.

Careful with attributing symptoms with general clearing. You're right that Qi Gong is often very uncomfortable during practice... but the discomfort, pain or any symptoms should generally end when your practice ends. In between practice you should generally feel really good (although there’s usually an emotional grumpy stage that comes on in the first couple of years). I'm no TCM expert. But from a Qi Gong perspective it sounds like your Qi is rising under pressure (causing all these yang heat issues). I would generally try to dissuade beginners from ZZ. There are certain changes that need to be made in the body and mind before ZZ is safe and productive. In particular one really needs to learn how to open and sink into the kwa, Song (release), Ting (listen inside) and Sink the Qi. You generally do this in Wuji standing posture (which is different in different lineages). Once you can sink Qi and your ‘qigong body’ starts to take shape, then you can add in extra pressure with ZZ.

Hi! Anxiety really messes with your autonomic nervous system. Even if you have worked with the cognitive aspects of anxiety and no longer suffer, your body can still be out of balance. Sometimes zz is a bit to on the mark, and in those cases dynamic movements might be a better option to start with. In zz the details are important, like alignments and so on, so starting again under supervision is a good choice. I am sure if this thread moves on, someone will recommend flexing your perineum.

I love this kind of "logic". It follows from this kind of argumentation that if 7% of people exercising in gyms or sports in general are injured during the activity then all people must stop exercising! Oh wait!