Orion

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About Orion

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  1. An end to the intellect?

    I understand why you are asking this question, but it's a little bit misguided. The purpose of cultivation in most higher level systems isn't to stop thinking, but it's to awaken the mind-body to the wisdom of the soul. Eventually the mind/ego comes into alignment with the soul body and begins to carry out its wishes. The mind/ego then becomes of service. You can never really stop the mind, you can only channel it into better uses. A lot of modern twists on traditional systems demonize the mind and this is a big mistake. The mind-body is the vessel through which the divine projects its infinite energy into a finite, experienceable form. The the divine, which is non-dual and not experiencing anything, gets to experience its own illumination through the projection of that mind-body. It's a gift, really. The problem is when the mind is given superiority and preference over everything else, such that faith in the mind becomes priority. This is when societies get ill and start to blame the mind for everything. The problem isn't the existence of mind, it's the misattribution of the mind's purpose and function.
  2. The promise of Advaita Vedanta

    I enjoy Vedanta because it's really paired down and simple, yet it's not an easy system. You have to come at it already awakened to the samsara we live in, as well as the nature of presence as being different from the dualistic ego. They don't hold your hand through those basic realizations; they assume that you already have most of your preliminary spiritual "shit" dealt with. Vedanta is really the road map for once you've done all the personal psychospiritual drama and trauma work of the mind-body, and now you are on the actual pre-requisite road to enlightenment. This weeds out a lot of weaklings, woo woo new agers, and people who would otherwise suck too much energy from the tradition due to their basic-ness. The other thing that I really value is that you can approach this system using the intellect because the mind is seen as a technology that can be used for the intervention of enlightenment, rather than being seen as an enemy to be silenced. You can bring all your questioning, all your intellectual ideas, and they will be met. Because Brahman is projecting himself through a mind-body and experiencing himself-as-that-person, the mind is a legitimate tool for tracking back to Reality, if you know how to use it. The few high level cultivars I've come across in this tradition, they really emanated... stronger than other traditions I've seen. The difficulty with Vedanta is that because it can get deeply intellectual, it allows some minds to mimic awakening, even though they haven't attained it. I have seen this over and over in online videos of various gurus talking, often white western ones. Their words seem right, but nothing about the energy feels like, "This person's got it." But there's no other real way to tell other than to rely upon the guidance of resonance or dissonance which you feel in your own core reality.
  3. Hey there

    Sounds a bit airy fairy, if you ask me
  4. Hey there

    I don't do isms
  5. A Science of Wu Wei?

    What's the point of realizing and observing wu wei if you can't learn your place in it? It creates a hollowed out reality where nothing is happening to anyone. And technically that is true - there is no person experiencing anything, but you can't just jump to that and spiritually bypass the person. The person, through the experience level, has to be brought into resonance with the truth of his/her own abdication. The route can be one of utter torment or bliss, depending on the methods. A good example is telling someone not to intellectualize because the mind is not connected to reality. That's not true. Reality consciousness (or wu wei) is seeing itself through a mind-body that it has illuminated with itself. The product of this in infancy is that the individuated wu wei accidentally associates with and believes it is the mind-body, resulting in the formation of "personhood", which is also the level of the experiencer. This happens to everyone born, it's unavoidable. Wu Wei isn't actually experiencing anything, only the "person" is. No person = no experience possible. Wu Wei never changes. The mind, the body, the emotions, they are all an outpouring of wu wei, experiencing itself through those faculties. It's why I find a lot of the Daoist discussions rather wooden and hollow. You see people whose vitality is actually waning and their unresolved tendencies leaking out of them as they abdicate themselves to the Absolute. They do things like jing conservation and other techniques yet they won't embrace the bliss of core reality that is already inside them, and illuminates them, and IS them. They are rejecting "I" instead of acknowledging that there is a misattributed "I" and a real "I" talking. One is the personality identification, and one is core consciousness conveying reality. Most people fall into the former, few into the latter. The whole point of the correct speech and other modalities is to evoke mind-body into recognizing the source of its illumination, done by correcting the thoughts, speech and actions that reinforce misattribution. You can sit there all day meditating on Wu Wei but once the meditation ends, you get up and stub your toe, and then you get angry, and then you're back in the mind-body rabbit hole. The language of the Daoist texts is also incredibly outdated and linked to lineages. You have people in the 21st century running around using old (and translated) language with the utter conviction that the undefiled word is the only way to go. And yet Daoism is steeped in right speech, right physical practice, and all the things that are meant to guide you toward the key realizations. Those things are happening NOW. To me, the point of Daoism is not to abdicate the mind-body to Wu Wei, but to dwell in the very presence that is illuminating them, without misattribution, here and now. Only then can the "person" come into resonance with what already is and be self-abdicated. Please, let's use modern language? We're talking about reality consciousness illuminating a mind-body to see itself, that through misattribution believes it is the mind-body (person/experience). The point isn't to toss out the person, it is to show the person the blissful resonance of the true reality so that it no longer has to cling to its own temporary form as the only way to the truth. The point is to realize the real you that is attached to a false "you", which our language fails to differentiate because almost nobody has the recognition and most old-world spiritual systems are focused on total Absolutism.
  6. Hey there

    Some advanced Vedanta teachings I've heard come the closest to describing what I've realized in the past 4 years. Every other system I've looked at is incredibly heady (at least, in the way it's taught and discussed), and fails to address core reality consciousness in a personified being. Most systems just address "oneness" or the Absolute, and the extraneous intellectualism is all about discussing variations of that. I have not come across a system yet that is prepared to discuss Brahman experiencing itself through an individual, and the technology to work with that - except Vadanta. The other issue is that most systems are steeped in human hierarchies wherein you're not permitted to receive certain teachings or have questions answered until you achieve a certain level or kiss enough asses; whereas Vedanta expects you to already have the basic work of sorting the ego done before you can do the real work. I don't want to worship gurus, or sort out my childhood trauma, masturbate about the nature of reality all day, or "feel better". I want THE TRUTH. For this reason, I recommend Vedanta. You have to have some entry level realization before you can really get what they're talking about, which is another thing I like about it. They don't do hand-holding for people who want to debate about whether or not Samsara is a thing or not, or who can't differentiate their own minds from reality consciousness. It's for people who are already awake and now are going about the task of possibly enlightening.
  7. I've worked a lot with tinnitus in my practice. If it's one sided, then the most common reason is skull bone misalignment, particularly of the temporal bones. Craniosacral practitioners and osteopaths are the ones to see to get the subtle adjustments to alleviate the cranial nerves, in those cases. I wouldn't bother with a chiropractor because their adjustments are too gross and lack that micro-specificity of the other practitioners. If you have a doctor of osteopathic medicine you could go see, I'd do that. They can be pricey but it's worth it. I once had a horrible 3 week migraine that nothing was fixing - I was even giving acupuncture to myself - and an osteo fixed it by adjusting the bones in the roof of my mouth. It was pretty remarkable. If the ringing is in both ears, then it points to a blood issue... like blood toxicity. You said you're doing some kind of detox, so that could be involved, potentially. The reason why the ears and the kidneys are connected in Eastern medicine is because if the kidneys are off kilter at all in their filtering of the blood or they're overburdened (like by a herx), the auditory nerves are the first to suffer distortions. It can also point to hormonal or electrolyte imbalances, again both of which are governed by the kidneys. Tinnitus is very common during menopause, for example. But... you did say it was left ear only. Yes, excessive upper chakra work can make the energy want to habitually go there, and this too can cause tinnitus, but persistent ringing no matter if you're meditating or not sounds like a physical problem to me rather than an esoteric one. If at the end of the day the problem seems more energetic, then I'd recommend acupuncture above all else. The practitioner would probably work on your kidney meridians to get the energy going downward. Tinnitus can be temporary or permanent. Generally, the longer a person has it, the less likely it's going to go away.
  8. What happens to suicides

    Like any ghost, it depends on the person. I imagine that someone who killed themselves in order to escape tyranny, torture or political injustice would perhaps have done so with greater resolve, knowing that the alternative was bleak. Compare that to someone who kills themselves in a moment of haste because of an intense emotional situation. Just because you die doesn't mean you suddenly become enlightened. Dead people are just as messed up as when they were alive, if not more so. That's why it's important to try and deal with your issues and imbalances while you're alive. Death itself can be traumatic but I think if you die at a point where you've made peace with your life, it's less likely to mess you up. Of course, not everyone is so lucky when it comes to the circumstances of their death. That said... all deads reside in the Earth plane. The only difference is whether or not they're at peace. The ones not at peace never fully dissolve and so they become errant spirits. I think that's the "purgatory" that various wisdom traditions refer to. It's not an alternate dimension it's just a place of unrest. The Earth is always going to accept them into stillness and silence, but if they are messed up or unresolved then they won't be able to rest. The part of us that is Divine always moves on and returns to the Source, regardless. The part of us that is doing the immortal work doesn't get stuck, it just learns lessons and proceeds through the ages. It's the human body and its corporeal soul that has to deal with any stuckness.
  9. What is so "special" about full lotus?

    Your seating position doesn't matter as long as you're doing the inner work. Personally I have always found half lotus a lot more comfortable than crossed legs or full lotus. I have naturally very narrow hips so it's more accommodating to let one leg swing a bit looser. There's not much point in being attached to classical imagery of what meditation "should look like". Yes, it's true, some positions offer better energetic structures, but on the whole it can be a little proscribed if you're not careful. I've had some wonderful meditations from sitting in chairs an even on couches with soft backings that you sink right into.
  10. Teachers who accept money vs. teachers who teach for free

    And the award for missing the point goes to...
  11. Teachers who accept money vs. teachers who teach for free

    It's because money has destroyed so many lives and caused so much suffering over the years that as an energy form it is very loaded. I feel like even when people can afford something, involving money as the energy exchange immediately downgrades whatever process is about to happen. It's a low vibration energy. That's why when people can, it may be worthwhile to try to exchange in other ways, or rely on Source to replenish them.
  12. Teachers who accept money vs. teachers who teach for free

    If money were no object, I would teach for free, but I would screen my students. It has nothing to do with one's social standing but their potential to have insight. I understand that money is real and it's also a form of energy. When we pay for a service (like a teaching), it's trading energy (teachings) for energy (money). At some point though it becomes a bit much... like when teachers are obviously gouging students in order to pad their luxury lifestyles. When I pay a teacher, if my funds are going toward their further development on the path, which in turn becomes of benefit to everyone, then I am okay with that, within reason. Some people are just selfish and have no ethics. They think their teachings are solid gold and they don't care if their students live in poverty in order to learn them. To me, a teacher who is self-realized will have a compassionate nature and have workarounds for this. Maybe we can do an exchange. Maybe I can do grunt work for them for a while. Or maybe they just see that I'm worth it and will teach me because the higher power (or whatever you want to call it) is directing them to teach me. I've met people like that... who are so difficult, but I know they MUST know something I know and therefore I should stick around. But there are a lot of teachers out there who don't look beyond the material and see those kinds of virtues. They think about their lives, their immediate gain... there's no understanding of Source and universal regeneration. I find that the more generous I am, the more I am given to, even if it's not from the person I just gave to. Some other aspect of life comes through. Giving and receiving are part of the same channel. Denying one is denying both. Too bad capitalism doesn't see it that way.
  13. In cranioscaral work, great attention and detail is paid to the cerebrospinal fluid and the ventricles of the brain. The cavities of the brain that are mostly empty aside from fluid are said to be seats of consciousness. I wish I could remember more but CS is something that takes a lot of dedicated time and effort to grasp and I'm not there yet. I just remember a practitioner telling me about this.
  14. I'm not cynical. Jing is real and the benefits are clear, but that's different than the legends about immortals. It's not cynical to point out that people treating immortals as a factual thing are merely engaging in a belief, not anything evidentiary. People get fanatical about every day practices that are meant to enhance our lives and our spiritual cultivation. It goes from a very grounded, practical thing to suddenly we're spinning out into the ether talking about superior beings who have cultivated some kind of transcendent physical reality. There are certainly gifted, high level people on this planet. None of them live forever, not physically anyway. Immortal ghosts, now that I can buy into. Shed this decaying body and then continue your work, that makes a lot of sense. But this notion that there are 300 old men living in secret in China somewhere is just face palm worthy.