roger

That's beautiful and inspiring thanks for sharing it.

I fully agree. It would be absurd to meditate for long hours and then go out and be unkind to people. Your words may be the answer I needed. Living wisely and choosing love are more important than formal practices. You could meditate for years and never open your heart and mind. Or you could open your heart and mind in a day, and accomplish more than you would through years of meditation.

I've found that physical exercise is a form of 'spiritual practice'. It definitely helps one develop Chi and mental strength. I've been exercising regularly for about six months, and I'm emotionally stronger and more confident and powerful in my interaction with others. There have been many studies done that demonstrate that exercise helps with emotions like depression and anxiety, and also stress. It doesn't require a ton of exercise to get the benefit. I just do a few sets of push ups, body squats, and calf raises, and curls with a dumbbell. I do each exercise twice a week. It sounds crazy that physical exercise is a great spiritual practice, but I've honestly found it probably at least as effective as meditation.

A practice I find very helpful is affirmations beginning with, 'Every part of me is.....' Every part of me is worthy. Every part of me is healthy. Every part of me is divine. It's been said that the best affirmations are 'I am......' affirmations. I've found it helpful to use 'Every part of me is....' rather than 'I am.....' because the former tends to give the benefit of the affirmation to one's entire self, whereas it's possible that with the latter, parts of oneself will be untouched by the affirmation.

While I can't speak directly to your question because I'm not learned in the subject, I can give you some pointers in a general and universal sense. Follow your heart and do what gives you peace and happiness. Even if the masters and experts say one thing, YOU are still your own authority and teacher. To put it simply, just do what you want to do. Experiment. Find out what works for you. Don't be afraid to try different things. In time you'll probably find your way, through trying different techniques. No one else can tell you what's right for you. But I can tell you to do what really makes you happy. If that happens to be the techniques taught by the masters, fine. If not, don't sacrifice your joy just because some master tells you what he thinks you should do. I hope this helps.

I put the word 'achieving' in quotation marks because I'm talking about something that one has done or has not, an actual attainment, discovery, or realization. There's a theory that there are four major 'obstacles' one must overcome to find complete peace. Upon overcoming each obstacle, one's peace is deeper. The first obstacle is guilt, the second pain, the third is death (defined as the apparent, but not actual, loss of one's Divine Self and nature), the fourth is fear. I got the feeling that it usually takes years to overcome each obstacle. So it's not something you do in a week or month. Overcoming the fourth obstacle would be considered full enlightenment. I just wanted to share this because it's a very interesting idea, and is one, but not the only, form of the stages of spiritual growth.

You really seem very spiritually mature SH. I don't know hardly anything about you, but I have a keen perception of these things. I'm sure your wisdom and light will be a great blessing to the people here.

sorry accidentally posted

I take the view that 'all is as it should be'. All is as God/Self/love/Tao wills it. Everything is happening perfectly. Everything that happens is the highest good. There's a book called 'When Bad Things Happen to Good People,' in which the author argues against this. He experienced a tragedy and took no comfort in believing it was God's plan. Others DO take comfort in believing everything is part of a divine plan. If everything is happening as it should, then Harold Kushner's (the author) beliefs and book were right for him. He believed what he was supposed to believe. The thing is that the divine plan wants All possible experience, it wants to FULLY experience life, love, and all things. Without all 'bad' things, there couldn't be all good things. Just as without anger, there couldn't be forgiveness; without sickness, there couldn't be healing; without ignorance, there couldn't be learning or growth.

Someone on Twitter posted, 'just start over'. To really begin anew, to really make a fresh start, I think we have to let go of the past and forgive ourselves for past mistakes. I've made a lot of mistakes and my past includes very much darkness and suffering, but I feel that it doesn't have to be difficult to know that it's okay, forgive yourself, and see today as a new beginning. If there is a God, He/She understands us and loves us unconditionally. I'm feeling good about letting go of the past and beginning my new life.

I forgive you sincerely. My view is that every choice we make is either one of love, or fear. It's very important to choose love, rather than fear. The entire quality of one's life, and largely their future, depends on it. Pride can make it difficult to choose love, but we need to for ourselves, others, and the world. Every choice matters.

Thanks for sharing this. That was an amazing healing. I've read some of Gregg Braden's work and it's very good imo. He's one of those guys who combines science and spiritual ideas. It usually takes more than three minutes to create a healing, but definitely not always. I think we should trust in the healing process and make our thoughts and perspective as positive as possible. I've learned that the key factor in creating healings is intention or will (desire). If the desire for healing is true (in other words, the person ACTUALLY desires healing, not merely thinks they do), then there's an absolute aspect to it, in that one's will is ALWAYS done. Whether the individual truly desires healing or not is also an absolute, in other words, you want it or you don't.

I read something very interesting by Eckhart Tolle that's given me an exciting new idea about awakening to ultimate reality. He said that our thoughts 'are not true absolutely'. He wasn't just talking about value judgments or opinions, but nearly ALL of our thoughts. I've learned that love is all there really is and that everything is really perfect. Fear, attack, and badness are only illusions. They're part of the DREAM WORLD. So, if we have the thought, 'I'm feeling kind of anxious today,' we can remind ourselves that anxiety (fear) is only an illusion. If we think, 'That was very unkind of him,' we can remember that lack of love and attack aren't real. Or if we see on the news that something 'unfortunate' happened, we can know that badness is an illusion and that everything is happening as it should. I was already aware of this approach to awakening, but after reading that teaching from Eckhart Tolle, it occurred to me just how much of my thinking acknowledges the dream world as real, rather than as an illusion.

The first discovery: You are more than your body, things aren't merely physical matter The second discovery: Perception is not reality, you are not what you think you are The third discovery: The recognition of the true nature of things, self-realization Btw I got this from the book Passage Meditation by Ecknath Easwaran.

Well, I haven't had the third discovery yet. But probably beauty, goodness, the divine nature. I said I haven't had the third discovery, but I have seen the true nature before. Satori happens many times before enlightenment. The times I've seen others' divine natures, it appeared as profound beauty and innocence.

The effective approach: Just accept yourself as you are and do what makes you happy. The ineffective approach: Try very hard to improve and overcome all your flaws.

Good point. Another way to put it is, just focus on having your integrity and making good choices in the present moment. Let the emphasis be on doing the right thing (however one defines 'the right thing') NOW, and that's how to make progress. I know what you mean though and I think it's a wise and loving view.

I enjoyed reading everyone's replies, and they surpassed my expectations. I feel that I have a pretty good idea about some of the different schools of Buddhism now. Thanks to each of you.

I do three kinds of meditation. One is what I call non-meditation. The teaching for that is: no effort, no technique. It's like the 'just be' meditation, where you just sit there and innocently and effortlessly be. The other two techniques I use are mindfulness of breathing, and choiceless awareness, the way Krishnamurti taught it. Non-meditation and mindfulness of breathing are both used in Zen and could be considered Zazen. I meditate with my eyes closed, sit however is comfortable (not with my back straight), and don't try to be still, as I find it more effective to allow physical movement.

These are some ideas I consider very important. I've been thinking about this stuff and wanted to share it, to get more clear myself, and maybe it'll strike a chord with some of you also. 1. Every choice is born either of love, or fear. It's always wise to choose love, never wise to choose fear. 2. Choosing love is best for oneself AND everyone else, and that fact is justice. The lie that you can love yourself at the expense of others, or others at the expense of yourself, makes love a fallacy and truth in its nature cruel and unjust. Loving oneself and loving others always go together. It can take wisdom and insight to know how to do that. 3. Every choice matters, although some choices matter far more than others. But small choices add up over time. 4. Often the most significant choices between love and fear are when the temptation to 'attack' (the choice for fear) is greatest. That's a great opportunity. 5. Finally, and very importantly, choices between love and fear, which are all choices, can be utterly subtle. Divine love can manifest in seemingly small ways. Such choices are very important considering that they constitute much of one's life.

Just know that everything is completely okay. All is well. Don't be afraid. Enjoy your experiences while they last. A Higher Power (however you prefer to conceptualize it) is protecting and guiding you. Have FAITH in that Higher Power. No need to try to 'figure out' what to do next. You'll know when you're supposed to know. Answers will come at the right time. Have faith and have fun (good, clean fun of course lol),

I enjoyed reading some of the PDF, thanks for posting it. It's been nice exchanging ideas with you. You have some interesting things to say. I admit I don't understand a lot of it, but that's probably because I'm not very familiar with the material you're sharing, or possibly because of my own limited intellectual capacity. But I was very impressed by the PDF.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Me, as in my Buddha nature? Is that like saying, "Truth is the sound of one hand clapping"? I hadn't thought of that, but it could be an answer. If "all is truth", "all is Buddha nature", then that would seem like an answer.

Thanks for sharing this. It's very interesting. Peace.