rideforever

I can only commend you on your willingness to exercise your will and choose wisely and intelligently, and to have a sense of your own aliveness and power, and to feed yourself from the intelligence of great beings of the past.

Everyone has to learn, through learning one becomes free step by step. There is neither perfect freedom nor perfect bondage. Fear and cowardice leads you to the grave, and you don't exercise whatever small options you might have. Someone of limited possibilities is given limited opportunities; one must prove oneself. It is easier to imagine a world were plates of food are thrust before you to lap up at your leisure ... but who will be making your lunch for you ? All learning requires effort. All accomplishments require effort. One has to participate in the work, not the talk. Do What Thou Wilt means exercise whatever you can right now, and again and again. This leads to self-knowledge, self-power, self-freedom. You do not cower either from yourself or the world, but slowly grow. What is it that you wish to do ? Nor do you "try to help others", isn't it clear this is just an excuse for no-one to take any responsibility for yourself. Even birds and cows look after themselves and don't dream of other people doing it for them, how lazy and stupid people are. Crowley realised as if it isn't obvious that many people too easily hand over the keys to their soul as if they aren't interested ... so how can you save such people ? They don't wish to be saved. The only people worth anything are those who live by doing what they can right here right now and slowly exercise their will growing in power. This is rewarded at all levels, by your boss, by your self-knowledge and by existence. If you live like this you may one day have an excess that you can share, you can share what you have made. Others will have made nothing and done nothing, still imagining some grand organisation will do it and "free the world".

Without exception everything has male-female (active passive) polarity. God within itself has this polarity, but when humans speak of God they are talking about their relation to God and so in that relation God is male and human-soul is female (receiving), the Sun and the Moon that reflects Sunlight. That is why God is male, it means in the relationship of our soul to God we are receiving and He is emitting. Our species also has the male-female polarity. Within a single human being there are various expressions of male-female, one is the yang-yin meridiens, another is the upper (fire) and lower (water). Because humans are complex creatures the male-female polarity is expressed in various ways and levels.

Clearly. All you are saying is that he who knows how to captain a ship should be the captain, he who knows how to swab the deck should swab the deck. If this is done then all will prevail. On some ships the rot has set in, and captain after captain slain, all talk like they are the captain yet none can or do swab the deck. What to do on such a ship ? After all the beer is drunk, after all the merrimaking and indulgences, and partying, you look out at the horizon and see it rising, you know everyone here will perish ... are you yet alive enough to care? The rest will not make it. This is a middle-world, a watershed and special rules are required here. Insincerity is everywhere it comes from delusion and illusion, it comes from boasting and laziness. If you wish to become strong ... how is that done? How is it done on a real ship that is Bristol fashioned? How does a real man grow himself? Then do that. And be sure that the partying will continue and that for most the watershed leads down. Crowley talks of those who have conquered by might or cunning, one must not be naive, and also one must be prepared to do what it takes, and not dream like the others. To climb a mountain is to work, and that work hones the man inside you. The drunk cannot be conquered, they can neither captain a ship or take a shit. They just waste time and are of a different design. Special rules are required in such a land; moving quickly, breathing deeply.

People who have anger problems are not actually angry. They have a problem because they strongly repress their anger, this is what they are taught ... the origin of being taught to suppress your anger comes from the power structure that wants to keep you down, to drain you of your strength. When animals get "angry" they don't think about it because it is simply time-to-do-something. "Anger" is a word used to describe what happens when you are mistaught to crush your own natural reactions and then feel in conflict with yourself. After that a lot of therapists and other fake cowards turn up to teach you how to "manage your anger" and be just as idiot of them.

Just get some nice fresh air and exercise in the week before the test, listen to some good tunes and sleep well. On the day of the test put some tunes on in the morning and dance around in your pants. Then go to the test hall, drink a can of Diet Coke and hit it. Give yourself a reward afterwards like nutella pancakes. I got a degree in Maths and this works.

I was trained in the Burmese style and it is very good. I remember being on retreats and suffering from non-sleeping as well, at that time I did not know the cause of it. I also had many awakenings and profound experiences on retreat in this style. The origin of the non-sleeping for me was over-concentration in the front of the head, it has nowhere to go, it is like pumping up a balloon in the forehead; eventually you can't sleep. I have also noticed that long-time practitioners of this style tend to have large eyes, their awareness has been over-concentrated over the years that it affects the whole from of their heads and they start to look a little strange. Awareness practice occupies the mind using the externalized attention. The mind being occupied becomes quiet. Because people get this benefit they would like to use this mechanism until the end, but the approach actually needs to change at some point. Awareness is using the same external mechanism that you would use to hunt tigers in the distance ... it is an external function. It is not an internal function. Realisation requires switching to the internal function, or intuitive recognition of self. This is a big change in approach. If you soften your Awareness it is better, and you might slip into the right state indirectly. However many Awareness students spend their lives increasing the power of their "external attention" and do not switch to a more intuitive inner sense of themselves. The Burmese tradition hold authenticity however it is limited. It gives rapid relief from the minds thinking and bring peace to the mind. Perhaps by doing Shikantaza you have realised something else needs to happen as well. Consciousness exists without awareness. It senses itself internally, intuitive recognition.not through awareness. Consciousness is at the back of the head and is a different tradition to Awareness which is more at the front of the head and associated with the eyes. Zen and Taoist practices also bring recogntion of the self at the level of the belly, dowwards. The practice of breathing at the belly is not actually another use of externalized attention. I tried to describe it carefully. All true practices must use internal sensing of your self, intuitive inward recognition. Awareness is a bit like hunting quite a forceful and masculine approach, but for a complete approach there must be a more feeling / softer approach, also an intuiting sense of self ... and also a not-doing approach. It is useful to try this by splitting a 30min sitting period into (a) masculine approach hard awareness (b) feminine approach intuitive resting (c) non-doing.

Good luck to you, I am sure you will find your way. @Ecclectica Just a thought ... do you let go ? Do you have trouble letting go ? You do a lot of practices which from your description seem to be mind-oriented, controlling and focussed, so it builds up a lot of energy in the head. The other half of practice is "surrender", "letting go downwards from the belly", "sung". This creates a drain so the energy can descend through your body and down from the tantien into the earth ( the absolute ). Then you have both halves working. Presence + Surrender. Otherwise your Presence just gets bigger until it never sleeps, it has nowhere to go. How to do this practice ? Sitting in meditation ... relax, relax, unknot unwind. (1) Then try to drop from your mind into the belly, as you exhale naturally just let your centre drop into the belly. Like I said before this does not mean you concentrate on the belly from the head. It means you drop. It may take some time. (2) Then from the belly and pelvis / gwa ... rest down on the floor, rest more and more, until a descending flow is created. The Central Channel flows downwards, the belly initiates it. It is all based on letting go from the belly, flowing down and letting go. Okay that's my effort to explain it. Bioenergetics / shaking are effective to release over concentration of energy but is only short term.

Blockages cannot be fully resolved with qigong because they are ultimately due to unconsciousness, and so continuing with meditation practice becoming conscious is a big part of the solution ... until that time you do not actually have control of your self. When you sit you should not move. That is a fundamental of the practice. You simply must not move. Not to be overly controlled, but you certainly don't move anything. In Zen sitting just follow a traditional teacher like Suzuki's Beginner's Mind Zen Mind. As the water settles the rocks appear. There are many discomforts that need to be worked through, that is the journey, it is painful and your experiences show that these things are arising. That is normal. Continue. It may be useful for you to take a more settling approach to meditation as a whole. I gave instructions for merging with the breath in the belly. I suggest that physical exercise might work for you. Running, martial arts, anything. You can get Yan Lei's bootcamp dvds or join an evening class. It may fix your discomforts better than any energy work; energy work may bring much more energetic disturbances into your life. Much more. Spontaneous qigong will completely let loose a lot of things and you may not like it at all. You can only deal with so much. imo you are already releasing too much stuff and need to relax and strengthen. This karma has been there for a long time, it will take time. So relax, and then continue. You can try Shane Lear WG, or Mark Cohen. I also like Bruce Frantzis. These are grounded people with grounded practice. I would avoid any big energy systems.

Simon Blow, I bought his WG book which was sold with the idea that it has technical understanding of energetics, but it is extremely superficial and went straight in the bin. I also noticed he got the requisite photo with the teacher back in China, which seemed quite insincere. He is not committed and probably wants a retirement income for himself teaching seniors. What are your blockages exactly ? What is it you want ?

I studied Simon Blow and Wild Goose for a year, going through the material of several teachers; but I do not consider him a good teacher he has a Western/ mental approach which does not reflect Wild Goose, also he seems to be in poor physical condition compared to other Wild Goose teachers. The best teachers I found were Shane Lear in the US, and a Chinese woman called Hui Liu I believe in Canada. However I do not believe WG or any such traditions are for you, and that you should seek a Qigong that will flow with your Buddhist path and your natural adeptness, WG and such things are for people who have no energy gifts and need to recover from sickness. Shikantaza has a large energetic component. What you can add to your practice to turn on the energetic work is to rest inside the belly and gently fall with the exhale. First resting down from the belly, sitting down from the belly, and ultimately flowing down from the belly. In order to do this you must change your practice point to be in the centre of the belly. This does not mean that you focus from your head to the belly, it means you are no longer inside your head. You must begin this practice from being inside the belly. I say this because Buddhist practices are often head based. Eventually if you fall from the belly it descends the Central Channel and eventually the head follows creating and downward current into the source or the base of the ShivaLingam. And you need no further instruction. If you wish something more you can do Zhan Zhuang with a teacher who teachers surrender like Mark Cohen. Other teachers teach toughing it out to build qi - which is not good imo. And there is also Hakuyu Butter Meditation. https://buddhismnow.com/2015/09/12/zen-sickness-by-zen-master-hakuin/ Also if you are adept at meditation and energetic work, you could also add other avenues to your growth including relationships with women and other skills in the world.

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People are getting worse as they have no way of learning. Technology does everything, and if you do something yourself you have to follow rules like a robot. So nobody can really learn and then everyone is depressed. But you can still shop on Amazon, and watch Netflix. Maybe that's all life is about anyway !!! Prejudices of the past were based on the people of the past. Those people had to deal with reality or they would starve. Over time they grew wise and an understanding of life occurred. That wisdom is now called "prejudice". But, as has happened many times in the past, the strength of that society brought riches. And society grew and the wisdom and hard work brought prosperity. But then people didn't have anything to do. Technology did everything. Then they got fat and stupid, and ill. They destroyed all old "prejudices" because they came from a different world. It didn't mean anything to anyone any more. One of those rules is that you have to earn the right to break the rules by doing such a great job. That one has been thrown away as well. Then society goes into freefall and people start to suffer badly. Lot's of blaming this person or that person. Outside there is a great party and people cheer claiming progress. Meanwhile society is full strife, diseases of the body, and diseases of the mind. The environment around is badly damaged. Still they cling to the great festival of progress. One day it collapses like the stock market. No food is left, and people do what they have to. It gets ugly fast. And people stopped caring long ago. Because they were ill the whole time. A few escaped because they were honest. And somehow they stumbled through so much bullshit and found a real teacher. And they were taught how to escape. There were few, but they entered a narrow gate. Nobody believed them. Back out there, the party of progress was going on. After a while every single one of them was dead. This story has been explained many times to every single person on the planet. In one way or another.

Where does my gas bill comes from then ??? Answer me that !!!

Christian tradition : "Narrow is the gate to life and few find it, wide is the gate to destruction and many find it". Hindu tradition : ... is complex, but Astavakra for instance says that the state sought after is rarely found, J Krishnamurti said that "no-one had understood" Buddhist tradition : In the Lotus Sutra it says that each Arahat or Tathagatta is such only after long and arduous path. Clear the authors of this bullshit from the "Cognitive Institute" have zero interest in such matters. The study is surprised that Tibetan monks were frightened of death. Quoting a monk : How should you feel when your parents die ? The monk was simply human and recognized the reality of mortality and was afraid. It is a good sign it means he is normal and not living through ideologies. This is correct ... they would not be monks if they thought there was no-self. Clearly there is a point and therefore there is someone to get the point. Otherwise just jump off a bridge. No-self simply means that the ordinary human person is empty, but through long spiritual journeying a Real Self will appear. Tibetan monastics refuse to give somebody else their life. Why should they ? Again it is a good sign. Buddha's last contemplation before he reached self-realization was that he understood that by being born he had the right to self-realization. He touched the earth that made him, and accepted self-realization, and entered the state of shining like the Sun.

I like that you want to honour your relationship with your wife and want to be real. As for this state of mind you applied ... well I am not sure what you did, but the fruit of Zen practice takes many years. So you might have tried to coldly stare at things ... but that is not actually Zen practice. There surely must be a way for you both to bring some depths and spiritual light into your lives, if that is what you wish. Surely it would be of great value.

When a human being wakes up in the morning he enters a waking state, like the other animals on this planet. But this is not the state of "Awareness" or the state of "Consciousness" that is spoken of in the Eastern traditions. Is it good to die ? Of course not. Buddha's story is very concise. He encountered death and disease and decay when he left the walls of the palace. He was shocked at the suffering. He had lived in a comfortable dream but now the stark reality shook him. Then he returned and a banquet was in progress; but he was no longer hungry. He felt there was something insincere in banqueting in a world of suffering. And for him, this game was over. He then sought an answer. And he found one. Should you do something ? It's up to you. Who knows who anyone is, or where anyone is, or what anyone should do.

Why do you get angry ? What is the reason ? What is the origin ? What is happening in the situations where you get angry ? What things in the past does it remind you of ? Perhaps you need to answer some questions. These things are not over-reaction in general, but your over-reaction for your reasons. What are those reasons ?

Couldn't find the Michael Winn book anymore, the closest seems to be the audio course for Qigong Fundamentals 1 : https://healingtaousa.com/product/chi-kung-fundamentals-1-audio-video/ On the DVD for this (5 animals 6 healing sounds) it is good but the advanced practice is not covered. Many people try to purify their subconscious. And it can be maddeningly difficult and ineffective. Why ? You have to attain a higher awakeness to reprogramme yourself. Second thing is that reprogramming your subconscious is not a good way to avoid life. You have emotions because you are supposed to have emotions. So you have to learn to wield them. Often imo the problem is not the emotion ... it is the fragmentation. In other words you experience emotions as difficult because they are fragmenting you, which is painful. When angry, there are two or twenty two voices inside all wanting something different. And so you cannot respond or wield this power .. of course it's all caught up in stuff from the past. It's a mess. Trauma fragments very deeply. Energy work on the own is limited especially for Westerners who like to have an expressive emotional life. Zhan Zhuang : energy de-frag Inner Bonding : psyche de-frag 5 Animals + 6 Healing Sounds : energy purify, psyche express Each one takes time to learn. Of course people want to do things that don't hurt and don't put you in your pain ... but better to bite the bullet today and save 30 years.

Michael Winn's book on the 5 Animals 6 Healing sounds practice is excellent and has detailed descriptions of how to go very deeply into releasing emotions with qigong, including working the 5 elements into deeper layers of the energy body, shaping intention, moving from elemental energy to organ to meridien etc..., and using vibration and vocalisation. Doing these things pushes fresh energy through the meridiens and organs, but also works on the level of the subconscious reality of these functions. The subconscious does not change easily and so if you have old problems it can take time. Are you ready to be sincere honest to face the truth and let go ... can you do qigong and let go, or are you trying to cling on to who you have been ? Also your general level of Consciousness acquired in spiritual practice affects your ability to purify your subconscious. Having said that you can also work directly with the emotions from the psyche. Inner Bonding (Margaret Paul) is very good. Observing emotions is good only in the beginning, and does not allow you to embody them or your human self.

A Professor ! Well that's different isn't it !!! I believe (not certain) it was in the video attached below, you will have to watch it to find out where it is. If you look at Ahmad's life you will see that he was a defender of Muslim culture in India Pakistan Palestine and elsewhere, someone who would explain away the nasty things about Muslims .. when he was very young his family was pushed out of India first by the British then by the Hindus and settled in the US .. or course later on he comes back to fight back for the Muslims. He was also a man who took up a Sufi-like lifestyle and appearance and read Sufi poetry. All in all he is as partisan and stupid as anyone can be. Not that he is a bad person, just that people are so stupid they are always saying "my people are good, yours are bad". And when someone is down on the floor, be it a football team, a religion, an empire, a business or whatever ... they you see all sorts of creeps coming out of the woodwork to give whoever is on the floor a kick in the back and then run back into their mousehole. That's how people are. Truth be told, people are all the same, dumb and violent.

Practically speaking, you can just do some "get your emotions out" screaming shouting tennis racket smacking the pillows, being assertive ... i.e. express your expression. That's relatively easy. You can also do 6 healing sounds and breath out the "poison" ... takes longer and if you need to learn to express your feelings it doesn't really help. There are actually several layers of emotions when you are angry: (1) Pushing away anger : you have been taught not to be angry so you are actually experiencing a battle to not express anger and trying to "control yourself". (2) Anger itself : this is a sharp defensive energy, when things have gone too far the you attack, to defend. (3) Wound : some pain or wound that hurts that's underneath it. (4) Smooth wood energy ... eventually you need to get to the place of smooth expression of the wood energy which is growing nurturing asserting etc... Getting the tennis racket out and wacking your bed, or putting your "dad" in an empty chair and shouting at him telling him all those things you didn't say ... and then having a breakdown. This is very good very honest and very fast. Try that first. The put the racket away get in the bed and cry your eyes out. It is important not to keep trying to get something from somebody who will not give it to you. You wanted love, you didn't get it. You wanted time, space, support ... you didn't get it. Instead you get push back. Then you get angry. Okay. Maybe these people can't do it. So ... just see that, and let them go, and try to find someone who can give you more what you need.

There are many ways. But the fastest way is to find the person who caused anger in you in the first place, and punch them in the face. Anything else is just beating around the bush. ( or you can speak to them and forgive them, that's also possible, and come face to face with the fact that you can't control what people do, and that relationships are sharing things, even bad things; and behaviour is not guaranteed )

If Christianity was still the dominant force the loving God with all your might and your neighbour as your self would be dominant. Instead young children are taught that surgically removing their genitals is a fun choice and mental health is degenerating throughout society and pills are the 'answer'. No we live in a fallen world. The dominant current is slavery, consumer slavery so that a few people can become billionaires. For that to happen anything with truth or goodness has to be attacked so that the public are weakened, then they can be exploited in 50 ways. That is why family and identity are systematically corrupted, because it weakens people; then they will not complain at being born into ill health and poverty. People are unhappy and do complain; but those complaints are never pointed to those responsible. Instead they are re-routed into attacking the things that made them strong, or into meaningless internet campaigns. The billionaires are safe, hidden in the background. It's an old and boring story. As for the destruction of primitive traditions peoples and spirituality it is very sad, but at the same time it was just a matter of time, since 15,000 years ago changes have been happening. Those people are not conscious they live in a dreamtime close to animal life. There is power there and you can experience it in shamanism and other traditions but inevitably conscious life and intelligence will grow and then the trouble begins. As for India, during the Mughal Empire the way of dealing with rebellious Indian people was to create a pile of Indian heads that were cut off their necks ... that's how things were during that invasion of India, so let's not think that the Western approach to India was worse ... it was worse only in some ways. I would be more worried about what is happening to India now, money has arrived and this will totally destroy all its spirituality ... (it will retreat to the mountains).