Shad282

You are conflating an idea of "the now" to the standard, very common result of aversion.  You are right in that what you describe is a type of escapism - in other words it is "avoidance".  That has nothing to do with "the now" as a reality - which is the totality of experience, the inescapable fullness and emptiness of infinity, the potential of all things.  In other words, when you are being present in "the now" you cannot avoid or deny any thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc. but at the same time they do not control your actions or dominate your identity.  You are overlooking the aspect of "being present" when it comes to "the now".

 

It is of course much more common to avoid any kind of uncomfortable experience - and you can use whatever you want to avoid it - alcohol, drugs, books, movies, meditation, martial arts, or "the now".  The act of avoiding can take any form whatsoever.  All you have to do is set out with that intent, and any behavior can serve that purpose.  At the same time if you set out with the intent of being present, any behavior can serve that purpose as well.  If you are not able to use intent to this degree, you may require a set of guidelines or precepts to help you - but eventually you have to drop the training wheels and get serious with your own life, your own experience.

 

Then there is the idea of "indulgence" as well.  Sometimes people actually become more comfortable repeating the same unpleasant emotions and thoughts - they become "comfortably numb" in their little subjective world and effectively retire from any sort of possible growth or evolution in an objective sense.  So, it is also possible to "dwell" on the past or future to a degree that is certainly detrimental - but this is more about the phenomena of "dwelling" on anything in general.  Another word for it is "indulging".  Its too much, its over the line, its not necessary - its like a hamster wheel where you are constantly running but getting nowhere.  This is related to the idea being discussed in another thread where you either work to make yourself happy or work to make yourself miserable - but the amount of work is the same.  

 

You have a finite amount of energy in this human body in this human life, and you can use it any number of ways.  Most people have no idea of this concept and therefore they serve only the civilized human world with its civilized human concerns.  However the natural world is much greater than humanity alone, and if you wish to take part in this greater reality you must utilize your finite energy in another way besides the standard civilized model.  The reason I am bringing this up is because most of the standard ways people "waste" energy can be easily transplanted to esoteric systems, philosophies, occult practices, meditations and so forth.  In other words, intent always overrides the practice, whatever it may be.  These tools can be used simply to further serve the same rat race, just with a different mask, a different background, a different setting.  Its something you should watch out for.  Trungpa called it "spiritual materialism".  You will be lucky if you find the kind of practice that wont let you go when you encounter such a dissonance personally - its very challenging to deal with, but a damn good omen in the end.  Thats when it gets "real", as they say.

My own experience is that this is broadly right, but an over complication of something far more simple. It is this complication combined with mysticism and badly defined terms that has led to confusion, gurus, retreats and a myriad of advice coupled with businesses.

 

If our minds are so jumbled up with thoughts it's usually because we are unsettled in some way, the world isn't making sense to us and we feel add odds with life. Instead of dealing with life as lots of people do day to day, instead our minds churn constantly and produce strong emotions which are mostly fear, unhappiness, guilt and misery sometimes I dispersed with a manic kind of over exuberant happiness.

 

First we have to stop trying to fit in and realise the machine is broken-we have to accept that we are basically a mess and no amount of trying to evade, rectify or lifestyle is going to make it better. Basically we are just feeding more stuff into an ever more confused mind which reacts by churning even more.

 

We have to hear our minds in an impartial sense, to act as witness to our thoughts in order to give us a chance. This process can be long and confused in itself-it can add to the confusion if it is done without the right sense of what is trying to be achieved. We should not be trying to rectify, find bliss, go astral flying, lucid dreaming, healing, gain powers or any other thing. All that is necessary is to gain sufficient quietness to sort out the thoughts arising. It's like counting to ten before saying something we regret.

 

We can get that space through meditation. We should realise that this is forcing ourselves to sit physically still and begin the process of mental surveillance. We are observing. Sitting in awareness of our thoughts, neither pushing them away, or rejecting them. It is an introspective process in which we become aware that thoughts are distinct and seperate from the external world.

 

It's at this point that there is a danger of divorcing external from internal by making consciousness awareness the focus and ascribing to it powers of control. It happened to me, I see it in the posts I read on this forum. The whole process becomes distorted as another little ego is developed. It is a more confident ego than the confused one that it replaces. It gives the feeling of being in a kind of special club, having a knowing, being slightly/greatly remote and aloof from all the other people who haven't learned this special secret way-but, I can tell you that most people are already well adjusted and don't need to sort out a head full of loose wiring. If we head down this route we are only adding to the mess, but, at least for a while it feels we captain the ship and get a sort of blissful, ecstatic calm. However, though it may last minutes, hours, or years, it is temporary only. Eventually the walls of our little ego will be breached either all at once, or bit by bit.

 

So, let's not add to the confusion, let's not replace one little ego with another. Instead, be introspective and watch the thoughts arise without attempting to do anything. That's ALL that is necessary, to be aware through our waking hours of the jumble of thoughts that are blooming. It begins to happen through short sessions of active, aware, physically quiescence and then carries across to our every day lives. This is really what staying in the moment is, but it's really far more simple-it is awareness of our thoughts on an increasing basis. Once this awareness has stuck then we begin to exert control on those thoughts by clearing up the confused philosophies from which they Spring. It's possible, I think, to go straight from A to B missing out the meditation, but, something in the minds need for water wings at first, before swimming, takes away some of the terror of diving straight in.

 

The point is to develop the strong ego. Instead of the fractured, manufactured small egos that generally make us feel scared, unloved and unlovable. When talking of 'killing the ego', that is a bad approach, we kill one weed and another pops up like wacka-mole. If we get to the state of actually killing all the wacka-moles by self inquiry carpet bombing we are in danger of falling into a pit in which we lose all sense of life completely. It's a little suicide of the mind and I imagine, in the mind of the less stable it can become real suicide. This little suicide is only another state which is recoverable by going back to square one and simply being aware of arising thoughts without doing anything else.

I Loved your replies... they gave me a new perspective to look through but to be honest.. they both started very well.. they complete each others in the first paragraphes... i guess it is a matter of being in the now in order to have the right state of mind to solve these problem, out of having a quiet and aware mind to be able to find the solution.

But in the last paragraphs of your replies.. things got weird and complicated. one describing a finite energy, distributing the energy, spiritual materialism ? and  the other with building a stronger ego??

Thank you for your replies

Thinking mind is best as a tool.  When you have problems, use it to solve them, now.  Think, deduce, chew on it and when you're done, let it go.. get back to quiet mind. 

but it is that process between the problems arising and reaching back to the quiet mind.

if you get stuck in that process, it might take days, months and sometimes years to find a solution and reach back to the quiet mind.

Many times, I've been told when thoughts that makes me feel sad or have a an emotion that is not desirable and such that i should be in the now and not dwell on the past or what is going to happen.

It is true that not thinking or just thinking about what is in the now.. makes me feel better and relax and such... but i see it as a kind of escapism of the thoughts that makes me feel sad...it is like not dealing with them and with what they are trying to point to.. and running into the now where they don't exist. 

No matter how a person stays in the now and train his mind to be in the present moment, there are triggers that is going to appear in the now that will awaken back the thoughts he tried to escape from by altering his focusing in the now. these thoughts will always stay there waiting for you to get triggered or lose your focus back into them to.

these thoughts are there for a reason, and demand your attention to be healed and transformed. they are the result of the past and exist in the now, but need to be triggered and if not healed, they will be in your future.

what do you think, is it an escapism? and how to actually deal with these thoughts without escaping them?

Thank you

Which is a little confusing. We like to separate our emotions from our cognition. Yet in stillness we come to see how much our thoughts are directed by our emotions - how much the ongoing dis-ease of our inner spirit directs the momentum of the mind.

 

So the heart center / middle dan tien region can be connected to the emotional/cognitive paradigm. It is the center where prenatal qi that collects in stillness refines into shen (spirit), as that stillness, that ease, that peace, allows the spirit to settle.

 

The upper dan tien / true mind is where the prenatal shen, as it now has a home within the middle, is able to be clear and empty, and is able to transform the shen back into the emptiness that is the true unity of jing, qi, and shen.

what comes first, the thought or the emotion?

because giving you a thought that reminds you of a situation would lead you to have emotion.... a thought can make you sad, another laugh and happy... I can't give you an emotions.. it is a result of your thoughts and minds process. 

I have experienced stillness and a state of no thoughts.. and that made me sense the impact of a thought and how it can agitate my emotional state and how different thoughts swipe me from one emotion to another.

Also, I read somewhere that... lower dantian (lower chakras) creates emotions... the upper dantian (throat, 3rd eye and crow) creates thoughts... and they both meet at the heart (middle dantian) that would result in manifestation. (intent+visualization).

in other words, the talent mainly is in the mind because if we manage the mind and thoughts with stillness, then we are able to direct our emotions and thus alter our reality.

What do you think?

My talent has apparently been amplified to an uncontrollable, super-hero-esque extreme. I write things, and people who read them miss the point entirely.

 

It's amazing.

 

Either that or I am just crazy....

 

which might be the case.

So, you are a superhero ! nice! 

Visualization is initially imagination. Afterwards it is only visualization as the visions are seen by an activated upper dan tien (or third eye). To be more precise, the senses pick up the energy and the brain presents an image. It may or may not look like that to another person. That's why the feeling of the energy is more important than the "vision". However there are some who can see the energy clear as day...

 

Intention is the focus of the spiritual or heart mind. It is feeling and one sends the feeling to make something manifest or un manifest. Intention is not an intellectual/mind driven thing.

so are you saying that, visualization is more of reception tool, to pick up energies and intention is a creation tool ?

My personal experience and current understanding is that intent is that through which manifestation occurs. It is energetic and is not limited by classical mechanics or a linear model of space & time. Intent is instantaneous and trans-dimensional.

 

Visualization is intellectual, a thought construct which is shaped and/or assembled. Powerful in its own right, visualization is constrained and constraining, and, while reaching forward across space & time, it is largely linear and non-instantaneous.

 

Intent takes an energetic foundation, a raising of one's vibrational energy in both frequency and intensity as well as a "polishing of the energetic lens" before it begins to become even slightly reliable. Visualization, on the other hand, is using "brain power" and imagination -- things we have been cultivating since childhood (whereas the energetic cultivation is generally snuffed out in Western society) so it bears fruit more quickly. Visualization is a crutch, however; an attachment which may help to jump-start a manifesting practice but that becomes restricting.

 

There is something else for which I don't have a name but my words swirl around sight-oriented terms: seeing or vision or insight or sight, maybe? This is the instantaneous appearance of a fully formed image. It seems to come from the higher-levels or be cross-dimensional (which I think are largely the same thing) -- something which pops into awareness rather than being constructed in thought and which can vanish as quickly without losing its impact or significance. From a healing perspective, this image of an alternate reality, perhaps one in which an ankle is not sprained, seems to happen in parallel with the setting of intent -- as if the healer is offered a potential reality to manifest which needs only to be selected rather than built, if that makes sense. Stillness first, then intent-setting -- sometimes a momentary flash of another version of reality -- and then a release and relaxation back into the modified stream of "now." Nothing needs to be "done" -- the "work" is in raising one's vibrational energy on a daily basis not in the manifestation or healing itself. I consider this to be distinct from what I think if as visualization, though, and a "quantum"-level aspect of intent-setting and energy-work.

 

Don't know whether this makes sense or gibes with other people's understanding but that's how I understand it.

Thank you for your post, very informative.

concerning the insight thing, of receiving a fully formed image popping into the awareness... how do you know if this image wasn't the result of deep mind subconscious beliefs coming into ur consciousness and is coming from higher dimensional place?

no matter how far we can deepen our sensitivity of thoughts and unconscious activities, we cannot reach the stage of 100% control of the subconscious mind and its auto activities.

Also, the healing perspective of images that come to the healer in terms of receiving a version of reality as a thought and the healer chooses with intent... does that mean that the healer doesn't actually heals, but he moves into the reality where the person is healed but the actual person being healed is still unhealed but in different reality? and so the healer is just switching realities?

and also are you saying that, healing is done by increasing your own vibration and so the person nearby will get healed due to the increased frequency/vibration u are emitting ?

then, what about over distance healing, if the person is not near, isn't it about moving the intention toward that person?

I use intent to connect; imagery is a "byproduct" of the connection, just as increased energy flows, knowing and/or feeling what the person you are joined to is experiencing are. Not every connection will have the same "byproduct".

but there are different way the intention is used.. and for me i guess there are 2 kinds of intentions.. one that is developed inside of the body, "introspection", which is like being in an organ or skin.. like vipassana meditation and it is called being aware of your body and each part of it. and an outer-intention which is used for connection and more of what is called psychic.

And similar to the one that is internal, where thoughts and images comes to hinder your focus and take you on dwelling thoughts, i guess it is similar with the outer intention where images come or visualization starts that will hinder your connection. Like you try to connect with a person but you end up connecting to its image or thought you have of that person and not actually connecting with him on a real level.

as the inner intention requires training of the mind through meditation such vipassana (as i only know about and tried) the outer also requires training in order to be able to notice the difference between what is real and what is created by the mind.

Also concerning the visualization, i was thinking that there is kinds of visualization one used to create something with the intent and one is more of a complete image that just appears as a whole without actually creating it. intent can be modeled in a way to serve the purpose of using the tool of visualization.

I was wondering how do u differentiate between intention, visualization and imagination when u are sending healing or trying to communicate energetically.

As i have been noticing some people use intention to connect or heal the person over distance without actually having a thought or an image of the person  and seems to be related to introspection but going outside, it is like sensational maybe.

some people may use some kind of an image of body healing it or visualize energy with certain color going inside. 

And others imagine a whole scenario of an environment, the person they are trying to connect to him and what is happening with them and maybe where they live and the room they are in.

what about you? how do u differentiate between them or maybe you consider them the same?

and what is more effective (in terms of healing or connecting...) based on your own experience?

Thanks.

Having an ego is fine by me.

Those colours are what they seem, they are as you perceive them. It is our conception of them that can be refined through science.

Reality is what we perceive. If you see a tree and another being is at atomic level and only sees the atomic structure, it would conceptualise a whole tree, just as we conceptualise the atomic structure. It about the relativity.

We perceive the world as it is, we then must conceptualise what we see and this requires reason and logic.

Seeing a stick appear bent in water, then realising that it is not bent and why does not make the stick appear straight.

Show me the proof that you can alter the surroundings merely by thinking.

Quantum physics is all about how we affect world, DNA, atoms by thinking and observing and many examples on how the water shape changes with thoughts changing. Many experiments out there and artists using it. and since most of the things in the world are made out of water, then u can affect them by thinking.

also a movie i watched yesterday called: I AM (2010) documentary, he does an experiment at a science institute how his emotions and thoughts affects yogurt charges.

that is one example of many, that is old, done by so many on youtube as an experiment, that is the link to the official experiment:

Masaru Emoto's Rice Experiment

what great and all powerful ego thinks it can command the universe, which is what it sounds like you are alluding to Karl - hehe...

A plan requires a planner. Who is this planner and where did they come from ? As you assume a planner, then who planned the planner and his plans for us ? All you get is an infinite regression, so, therefore there are no plans, we have free will, we got to manage best we can and extract as much happiness from our endeavours as we can. Our plans are our own, but they must first conform with reality or they will not function for us except in the case of some accident of coincidental error. Our planning is therefore our chosen principles by which we obtain the values that we require to survive (to serve the primary value that we hold of life itself), the obtaining of these values results in the feeling of happiness if it coincides with our chosen principles.

 

A mans life is an end in itself.

It is not egoic to think that we make our own reality because it is true. the fact that colors are just frequency and they just not exist the way we see them, other characteristic are not just what they seem. everything is a matter of vibration but we are limited to our senses and thus limiting the reality to what we think it is. 

the way we see the world is subjective and that is why each person has his own opinion and interpret things differently due to his past experience and knowledge. altering those factors would change who you are and how you see the world and that is how we make our own reality.  also, our body emit frequencies, at the end we are made of frequency, so we affect what is, and since we have the freewill and the most advance tool on earth, The Mind, it can alter this frequency of ur own organs/body and thus affect its surrounding.

Humans have long affect the external reality through the external reality, by combining, developing, such as new tech and new way of living. but they never used any frequency tools to do that.. except in medicine in some cases radiology.

You are the universe.

 

Do you trust yourself?

 

Do you trust yourself to let go of all the protection you've placed between yourself and the rest of yourself, trust yourself to be vulnerable?

 

All we need to decide is what is right for us in the present moment. This sets our course, and can be guided from our heart, with no need for thought. If we feel that something needs to change, simply perform an action to change it.

 

Often we fail to do this because we are caught up in a judgement about something external to us. If an external source hurts me, I don't need to think about it or fear it, I can simply go another way, or change something.

 

The daodejing speaks much on being humble. Flowing like water to the lowest place. When we do not hold to grand aspirations and ideals, we cannot have them denied to us. When we do not place ourselves above, we cannot be put below. And by staying resting upon what is low, water builds up continuously, naturally, until it begins to reach even the clouds. Even in the clouds it does not presume, and simply continues to flow with dao.

 

Trust, accept, let go and simply be present. The answers come from the heart, not the mind. If the mind won't let go, go read some daodejing.

It is a question of self trust... but still hard for me to be vulnerable because i have seen what happened to others and how sometimes stuff are rough. and i might taken with the flow to places that aren't that much nice. 

I love me some barefoot, stubbed toe, stepping on stones wu wei accupressure!

I only put on shoes when I absolutely have to... shoes to me, are much like lineages... they can soften the path a bit and may let me speed my walking rate, but they also act as a barrier of sorts between my process and path and when I slow down, I notice so much more anyways...

 

It's reassuring to see that someone else defends the term New Age.  All these highly touted and sacred held lineages have much to offer, but they also have much to avoid in my experience, particularly in the vein of the the unquestioning and robotic seeming manner of following another's path without critical thought or even active participation on some levels.

 

All the lineages that exist now, were once a path of New Age discovery, being created by a human treading a path not yet laid by any dogmatic truth.

 

We don't see the universe as it is... we see it as we are.

As such, where is the one vantage point of truth?

yes, everything evolves with time and everything apply to its Now. living by the dogmatism and rigidity of old paths that were in tune with their environment and time, Nows, is quiet not logic. Causing a lot of people change their Now, what is, to go isolate themselves, neglect all technologies and development and live in a traditional "Now" environment, the era of their beliefs and not actually use the knowledge and apply to our Now, of technology, social media.

The New age is trying to create, harmony, application of the knowledge in the Now we are in. 

it seems for me hard to trust the universe/life.. you can see people who struggle and suffer due to stuff beyond their control, for example a kid that is living in war or on street hungry and such..  why would the universe put that innocent kid in such situations and pains. Even tho, some may say, will help him to develop and become strong and other benefits of these situations.. but these lessons could have come in another way. why the universe/life has to make its learning through suffering? couldn't be upgraded to a new positive way of teaching?

how would I trust that the universe won't try to teach me through such kind of events of pains? i know i can cop up with such events that I consider painful or whatever.. but are they necessary. it is like you know the way out but do you have to go through it from the first place?

I do believe that we create our own reality but that is make me increase the control i have over myself and my actions and increase my awareness of thoughts and sensations to be able to control my own reality 100%.

but at the same time I think it is not really we are the only one who make our own reality, no matter what we do, because how would an innocent pure kid put himself in such situation and experience: (no karma plz)

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/08/20/brother-of-omran-daqneesh-boy-who-became-the-symbol-of-syrias/21455644/

isn't the universe harsh?

Talent/Nature: Going deep and an inner compass for the heart of things.

Unrefined: Fears and stagnation.

Refined: Bringing clarity and integration to what is heavy and so increasingly merge it with lightness, transforming the paradigm and so entering the heart of unity.

I was wondering if spirituality is a talent of the mind?

since people who are talented in cooking have this talent through their mouth... musicians through ears... perfume makers through nose.... artists through eyes.... singers ears and throat... 

I seem to have an preternatural ability to irritate and upset people, particularly when I start a reply with "Weeelll..." Does that count?

HAAHAHAHA... well  i guess i can do that ahahahaha u helped me discover my talent !  

I have the ability to wish someone something and the exact opposite tends to happen all the time. For example, if I say "have a nice day" to someone, they are guaranteed to have one of the worst days of their life. Same thing for special event wishes like birthdays, holidays, etc. So I try not to wish anyone anything.

 

I've also noticed that every time I would have an orgasm, three days of misfortune would follow. Any business deals on the line would go sour for 3 days at least or even completely destroyed, same for projects, relationships, and any other activities. Knowing this, I avoid orgasms, and have been going strong for 2 years now with no orgasm. I can see that even masturbating without cumming is detrimental by things getting delayed, but not as devastating as an ejaculation.

 

For periods that I've gone without orgasm and no masturbation, I've seen tremendous success. I've seen a correlation between these periods of god mode abstinence (no orgasm and no masturbation and no porn) and my income levels. Income would grow exponentially the longer I'm able to hold out with no masturbation in increments of 3 days. For example, after 3 days of abstinence I'd see sub $100 level income, after 1 month of the same, I've seen $30,000+ inflows of cash from the strangest least expected sources.

oh wow .... that is something new... can it be presented at Britain got talent ? depends on ur country .. LOL  you can mastubate in front of the judges or wish them to have a good day ...  LOL

but to be fair that is a nice observation and noticing the correlation between your masturbation and income .. i did notice some kind of changes before and after stopping jerking off ... but it was more related to being more energetic and optimistic and so my days change..

but could it be related more to the reason that makes you want to masturbate... maybe u masturbate because u feel lonely or sad or poor or whatever negative thoughts about you or your life ... and mastubation became as an escape of those thoughts .. because getting hard is 85% due to a thought in your mind that is sexy, or due to many stressful thoughts,  so if you masturbate.. these thoughts stop due to dopamine secretion and your body relaxes... and then this repeated behavior would lead to an cause and effect  relationship. so your brain will start producing these negative thoughts in order to receive that orgasm and release. so the wired relationship in your mind becomes: more negative thoughts more orgasm which is positive feeling. and when you stopped mastubating/ changed your behavior, you broke this relationship.

I m not saying mastubation is good, But you should consider later on, when you fall in love, i m not sure if it is pleasant or enough to just keep it emotional, without having physical love making. unless you are planning on shielding your heart.

I m not sure if it is the problem with the tool (mastubation) or the way (mindset) you use it.

Seems like people here don't have any talent ?? 

Hey ! 

- What is your talent and how did spiritual practices, mindfulness, meditation..etc helped you in improving it ?

- and you ever thought to apply for a Talent show?

For now I currently don't have any talent but i do practice spirituality!  

Observe your thoughts.

observing your thoughts would allow you to discover what your mind is trying to telling and to discover the illusion that some thoughts are creating and draining your energy and decreasing your focus.

At the end, no matter what choice you will make, or action you will do... you will encounter the same energy and the same lesson but in a different form. A lot of people think that choosing between 2 options will eventually lead to different changes in life.. but actually they are the same energetically but different in forms. so no matter you do, u are always on the right track but it looks different. 

I hope my answer helps. 

It is a great boon to not care what I say.  I often don't care what I say either and frequently will tell myself to shut up in the middle of a long story.  But not now evidently.  I remain curious about your tone and your assumption of qualified judgment in the life of another?  Even as you so potently expressed that my comments about your actions are immune from your concern, yet you clearly display that what Miffymog or Shad shares about their own experience that is incongruent with your own, somehow triggers your need 'to pierce through ignorance'. 

 

No one knows another's path... I don't know yours.

 

My response is nothing but digital representations of letters on a screen, given cultural meanings through some vague communal agreement via the learning of language.

 

The reason my words do not hold weight in your mind is because I am not a qualified observer in your life.

These are the same reasons that your words hold no weight in Miffy or Shads... as you are unqualified as judge in theirs... the only reason I'm speaking at all here, is that I was engaged by your tone and belligerence.  So I'm not at odds with your words, nor you, but the energy you focused and sent with intent, via your projections of being a qualified judge.

 

It is a fine thing to offer your countering view to someone in the hopes of benefiting them when you have insight.

But to claim ownership of their truth and degrade them for theirs... well then I seek to pierce as well.

Don't bother yourself or waste your time on this. Allow them to be as they are and one day they will understand what you mean, at the right time, right situation. 

<3

Please, define what is happiness...  Is it same as suffering?  No, you don't know what is Nirvana.  You need to have cultivated certain degree of samadhi to partially realize Nirvana.  The process may require several life times.  Really?  Yes, really.  That's why there are 3 vehicles or 3 paths to enlightenment because not everyone starts at the same level.   Getting high by listening to some music won't cut it.  That's the new age thinking.  You talk as if you know the path, but you don't.  Finally, most of us do follow certain established paths lay out by the ancient to some degrees.  So, our cultivations aren't some new age thinking about (do whatever hell you want and you can become enlightened).  The reality is not.  

 

Instead of arguing here...you need to go find your damn self.  I would recommend starting with your own life first.    

I know about your belief... and the vehicles, samadhi and the whole package and been practicing for a long time.

but just because you believe in samadhi and steps and vehicles and the only 3 paths of enlightenment doesn't mean it is the truth for everyone.. if you deeply understand the real teaching behind what you are talking about.. you would understand that these beliefs of cultivation and practices are just true in your own reality because these beliefs are there to help you see the illusions of the mind and reality and not add a new illusion (the only path/truth) that later on will end up to be your new mind prison.

the buddha, Lao tzu, said many times.. it is not the only path, it is one out of many and you make your own reality by altering your beliefs. If you read more about the buddha and lao tzu life.. you would realize that they never said in order to get enlightened you should only do this and that or else you would never get enlightened (only some followers said that). enlightenment is not the monopoly to only one path, Dogmatic thinking is.

Re:

-----

"what do you mean ? people provide explanation to what you mean you make me feel like justin bieber ...  asking" what do you mean?"."

-----

 

I meant this:

 

There is no other actual path.

 

 

Do you see another?

 

If so - describe it.

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

There are countless of paths and each have its own practices to lead to the same thing.

your senses are the door to countless of paths  to reach the main goal: Happiness. that is what people are and were looking for, for many years (misery, suffering..). Many paths were walked to reach it, and many practices were created to serve you on the path you chose. 

a Musician could reach happiness/Nirvana through the music ears, a chef while making delicious plates out of love and passion (nose, tongue), a monk out of compassion and love through the mind/thoughts.. and others through multiple combinations of sensations as saying through multiple doors to life.

Do you think that taoism, buddhism or spirituality is the only path?

My first answer was a wee bit abrupt for such a genuine question. 

 

The reason I said it was not a choice is based on my reaction to the teaching.

When I encountered my first cultivation teacher whom I instantly connected with on a profound level, it felt like waking up after a long sleep and I was absolutely going to return again and again... that's why I say it wasn't a choice.  It was compulsion, I simply, authentically and deeply wanted to participate all the time as often as possible.

 

In my youth I also wanted to be able to kick ass.

Now I want life as simple as possible and my focus is health and balance of emotional force. 

 

I have no desire for powers.  They seem to complicate things.

My teacher's abilities whenever they have shared them, seem to me, to cause their lives to be fill quickly with all sorts of what I, in my lazy natural state, consider to be major sources of pain in the ass distraction, rather than a benefit.

 

Wow!  That's amazing!  Teach me!  I want that!

Can you heal my ________?

I lost my _________ can you tell me where it is?

My ____ is swollen can you fix it?

 

I should note, my teachers were men of a stature I can't come close to emulating.  Their level of compassion and desire to help and serve far surpass my own and so the subsequent attention garnered by their show of powers is a blessing for them, in they have massive opportunity to benefit the lives of others.

 

Although, I have noticed that for all that, neither of them stay in any one place for extended periods of time... they tend to be moving targets... perhaps that's there balance.  (shrug)

 

All I know is that this way of life was one I fell into like gravity, or love.  I never sought it, just recognized how fortunate I was when I discovered myself mired hopefully within it.

 

I am selfish and want to heal and have a long happy life with my friends and family. 

Nice, Loved your story. 

well for me.. i was around 9 yo when a friend of mine, drew the Ohm 3~. sign on sand.. telling me about what his sister is doing and practicing and such... i was astonished by it.. and i stayed in my mind all the time.. i used to like magic and powers and such and it felt like an access to something greater something wow to me....

with time, such teachings came irregularily into my life and started with discovering chi through psi ball (magic) hahaha.. lead me to feel the chi and the magnetic field... later on through the internet i learned qigong and mindfulness and etc... part of it, feels i was directed into that direction and other part is my choice to harness what i've been prepared to.... but i have no goal for it.. i mean i try to help people and such but it is not serving me in my own life as a purpose or something big.

There is no other actual path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

what do you mean ? people provide explanation to what you mean you make me feel like justin bieber ...  asking" what do you mean?". 

Thank you Mr. Penguin!