*post meant for welcome /newcomers section but unable to post there *
Hi all, late 20s man here (married and my wife is also interested in Taoism)
I first came across spirituality at age 16 in a Hindu context after losing someone close to me - and read bhagavata Gita, Vedas and then quickly discovered on Buddhism and Taoism;
Having already came from a dysfunctional home where i didn't have much of a sense of self /ego to begin with , and had also seen a whole lot of suffering , the teachings of Buddhism resonated with me ;
Its probably a well known trope among us Gen Z'ers , but i also used pornography as an emotional coping mechanism and i guess, some level of sex- ed , having received none from home; This started since age 13, and while not excessive by modern standards, the messages in all religions noted that lust was not satiating, neither good , and especially bad for the male body;
I pursued Bramacharya , and did some pranayama , and was mostly successful
Having been with my wife for almost 5 years now , we decided to explore celibacy and have both experienced, feelings of innocence, more contentment, intuition ,deeper dreams , all within weeks. I would say i have an inclination towards celibacy , and usually feel better and more at peace in this state , within reason.
That inspired me to revisit these forums, where i have lurked silently for some time in the past, but rarely actually committed to any practices
I am not materialistic, despite working in the corporate world in finance for almost a decade.
I have dabbled into nonduality practices, vipassana meditation and the like, but would now like to learn from, and in time offer support, about energy practices- qi gong, cultivation and Taoist philosophy;
I do have a yearning to know what is beyond the apparent, and would like to explore it via actual practices and teachings; Willing to even explore masterclasses/ workshops and stuff as well ;
These are some of the teachings/teachers i have learnt from ( i have no allegiance, nor endorsement of any teacher's teachings) :
-Nisargadatta Maharaj
-peter ralston
-eckhart tolle
-adyashanti
-parahmamsa yogananda
-swami vivekananda
-lao tzu
-sam harris
-richard lang
-leo gura
-tara brach
-ramana maharshi
-mantak chia/ michael winn (briefly)
-neville goddard
sidenote-i stumbled upon some chinese anime- called donghua, which interestingly, while being fictional, still draws from taoist and buddhist philosophy, and the word cultivation is mentioned alot ;p that has been to a low extent, nontheless inspiring
All in all, happy to meet everyone and learn a thing or do ; happy to dig around, research, bring ideas, and experiment/ walk the path
Would love to get to know you all and also share more about myself/open up, in time to come
