Paradoxal

I'm not entirely sure if what you refer to the "true Ego" as is any different from the "false Ego" which you claim must be defeated. The source of "action" in these cases is from something other than ego, afterall.

Wanting to assist is different from assisting. Once you reach the pinnacle of what @dwai and @EmeraldHead are attempting to describe, there will be no "wants", only actions. In doing those actions without "wants", it becomes nonaction. It is like water being attracted by gravity down the hill. In this state, one becomes kind, strong, and generous without any attempts to follow through on internal or external "ideas". It is effortless. The best leaders are those whose subordinates complete a task and say "We have finished it! On our own, without any help!", despite being subtly led through the whole process without realizing it. Other options for leading certainly exist, but none hold nearly as much efficiency and compassion as those which are not remembered. There is no need to worry about pain or suffering, as such things are simply a part of life. When it rains, dance a raindance. When it's sunny, sunbathe. When it's snowing, build a snowman. Make the best of both pleasure and suffering, and you'll see the way.

The truth of this depends on what we define a "demon" as. The original daemon indeed referred to basically anything from outside our plane, but "demon" can also refer to those below our plane. What we refer to in being possessed by a demon is those of the lower planes. You do not want to be possessed by those of the lower planes, as it will not "challenge" you, rather, it will lead you down a path that reverses growth. I believe I've said something similar to you before, and I'll say it again for your sake: thoroughly examine yourself to see if you are possessed. From my personal experience, most possessions don't show any of the flashy "powers" like you'd see in the movies, rather, they drain your energy and pollute your mental state. When I was possessed, I certainly identified with the word "demon" a lot more than after I got it fixed. Again, it would be worth examining yourself with a blank mind even to simply check.

This is actually a rather healthy way to view things, at least, from my point of view. If you destroy yourself attempting to help others, how can you truly offer a helping hand? Some things are indeed sad, but are not worth focusing on, nor are they worth caring deeply about. Retaining your compassion while reining in your scathing flames is quite ideal, as it allows you to help others without burning yourself.

Speaking as someone who has been practicing magic for around 7 years and someone who started cultivation only a year ago: I've been led to begin learning astral projection, but I have found it hard to get out of body even during the vibrational state. I've tried many of the normal active methods, including climbing the rope, wiggling out of the body, willing yourself out of the body, etc. I can get the vibrations with relative ease, but I seem to have trouble making that last jump out of the body. Is there anyone here that may know of a way to troubleshoot this kind of thing? Are there methods specific to cultivators for astral projection? What about internal energy techniques to enable easy leaving of the body?

Hi! I'm new around here, but I have trained in western magic for ~5-6 years and martial arts for ~3 years. I started neigong martial cultivation around a year ago, and am still in a detox phase. Over this past year, I've averaged 30-60 minutes a day of internal practice, with a few breakthroughs felt. I spent the majority of my youth on various psychiatric medicine, and only got off it all when I was around 20. Is it possible that this is what's causing my detox period to take this long? From the research I've done, it usually wouldn't take over a month even in those on medicine. Would 20 years of pills take 20 years to detox? If anyone has any experience or knowledge in this regard, I would greatly appreciate input! Thank you for reading!

It depends. It depends. It depends. "There are no truths, this statement included" is a good topic to internally ponder to find the answer you are looking for. If you want a wordy and inadequate answer, then you are looking at the finger instead of the moon. The same can be said for good and evil, really.

It certainly was toxic for me. I was on lithium for multiple years as well. Quite frankly, it feels like a miracle that my liver and kidneys are still working. It was like there was a thick layer of mucus over my normal aura, if we're talking metaphysically. I'd love a link to that website if you can find one! Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post!

Oh, yeah, multiverse theory is exactly what it is. I agree with you there.

I quite appreciate the input on this, as I, myself, am unsure exactly what it was. It was certainly not a "dream", and I don't believe it was "astral projection". Recovering those memories is half of what allowed me to start my journey in this life, as I grew up with an intense hatred and disgust for religion in general, though most of what I had been exposed to up until that point was Christianity and Judaism. I was an extremist, militant atheist. As that was the case, it would have been hard for me to even accept the idea of something that most people could not see, nor would I have been able to accept the idea of cultivation, qi, gods, demons, ghosts, magic, or any of the other phenomena that have become everyday to me. I began studying to figure out what it was, but I still don't have a concrete answer! Would it be taboo for me to ask how you accessed the written bits? I've not had direct access to the records via projection myself, so I'm not entirely familiar with the process, but I've never heard them express it in written language. This kind of thing very much intrigues me. As interest grows, so do the number of parasites of topics. Unfortunately, fanaticism is quite easy to fall into. I do indeed hope to move to Japan and I also hope to teach, so I may use the JET program, but I hope I would at least be a good teacher for the students. Students learn from their teachers, whether the teacher is good or not; this is part of the reason America is having issues currently, as we do not have sufficient incentives for capable teachers, though I digress. I'll need to finish my degree before I can even look at that option, either way. If it is here to give a positive message, it would be wrong to send it away, but if it is here for itself, would it also be wrong to send it away? I've always had trouble comprehending morals. I would think that if someone were to come and cleanup a lot of the haunting hotspots, it would be an overall good thing, but I don't quite know if it's acceptable to exercise power that way.

When speaking of growing my knowledge, I'm actually referring to knowledge of this world, rather than spiritual knowledge. I want to know how this game works, how I can replicate this game, and how I can use its mechanics elsewhere. How can I build a computer from scratch? How did western medicine develop? How did eastern medicine develop? What can be used to power a car? How do we make "books"? etc. While I recognize that knowledge of this world is not particularly valuable in most cases, it is what I feel I need to seek before I attempt to seek higher planes. I am not well-read enough to tell you where that quote comes from, but I do recognize it. It was probably quoted in one of the books I've read, as my reading on source materials is lacking. What I would like to do as a monk is meditate and practice martial arts without being bothered by the concepts of "money", "time", "space", etc. Most likely I'd be enrolling in a martial Buddhist system, though who knows what the future will actually hold?

I'm in the application process for TUJ right now, actually. Other options are quite useful, but I'd have to look into what kind of "religion" Shumei actually is. My main requirement for organizations such as religion is that I will never put a deity above myself. While this may be seen as arrogant, it is one of the few rules that I plan to stick to. I'm completely open to monk training, as I plan to become a monk once I finish my worldly missions, but I need to grow my knowledge first.

I feel foolish indeed! Much thanks for the patience in regards to that. For better or worse, I do understand the tape recorder bit just from the small amount of research I've done on the matter. On the bit about systematic discrimination, I actually did research on that for a paper in one of my classes. I don't quite know all my options yet, but I'm working on living there for university fairly soon. During that period, I should be able to find some answers. Touche.

This is extremely valuable knowledge; thank you! I'm not sure if I could properly explain what I would like to explain even if I were given a million words, so I will give an exceedingly brief summary: While I am a white "American" in this life, my habits, mindset, thought process, and emotional outlook are generally closer to that of a "Japanese". It's a bit different than the "weeaboo" thing that's going around in westerners today, but it's hard to really explain. I have snippets of memories of two past lives currently. One of the most vivid memories I have is as a child in Japan, dying to the nukes. I don't know whether I was in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but I remember the morning of until the point of death rather vividly. It's one of my personal inner "demons", and is something that I personally struggle to forgive for. That said, I also recognize that there's no real point in holding on to it, but it is still a rather vexing memory. Overall, a lot of my personality seems to have carried over from there, even with my raising in an American household. When I visited Japan briefly, it felt like I knew it more than my own home. The streets of Asakusa felt like home to me, though I'm not exactly sure if it was Asakusa itself or simply the idea of "Japan" that was the home. I need to get the funds to travel across Japan itself to figure this out, but that's a bit far off. The second past life memory is one that manifested in the same way as the one of a Japanese child, but it is of a Chinese monk in a temple. That said, it is outlandish enough to me that I have trouble fully recognizing it as a memory, due to the fact that I was able to levitate in said memory. It's a memory of myself sitting in the lotus position, floating in the air, and instructing disciples while laughing. Given the nature of this one, and the fact that I am not able to confirm the existence of levitation despite knowing theories on how it could be achieved, it's hard for me to fully accept it. That said, I've found that a lot of "advanced" neigong practices that I've been fortunate enough to have been taught in this life are things that I had been practicing on my own off of instinct before learning about them. I assume these to be echos of past lives, though I don't fully know. I found that the spirit "wildlife" around Asakusa quite welcomed me, though that may have been normal. Back to the idea of insight from language, every time I learn a bit more Japanese, I seem to "understand" a lot more of myself and my techniques than before. My affinity is high, so-to-speak. Because my affinity for it is high, I feel like I will learn better if I learn directly from the source. All that said, I do have a question for you all on the undead. If one is capable of sending them on to their next life, is it morally wrong to force them to leave this realm?

Indeed I'm not familiar with Kinokuniya by name. After googling it, I'm pretty sure I visited one while I was in Akihabara, but I'm not too sure they had anything in English in that one, as would probably make sense. I do think that if possible, I'd prefer to read these kinds of things in Japanese, as the use of Chinese characters allows for quite a bit more poetic detail. I'd read them in Chinese if I understood Chinese, but since I'm still working on my kanji, it may be awhile before that is possible...

On the mythology? I think I'd be better off reading them in Japanese, if I were to buy books on it. I'll probably end up doing most of my reading online, though. That said, thank you for the advice!

It's a combination of factors that produce the end result. "Bad things happened here" is only a trigger, not a full reason in most cases. That's true. The one I encountered at sensoji was a local kami, though he never gave me his name. Looked like an ancient scholar of sorts, but I don't think that narrows it down much. He helped me purify some stuff that was bothering me, so he was rather helpful. That said, since I plan to move to Japan pretty soon, I may need to learn more about its mythologies to prep for any weird intricacies.

I would classify those that have consciousness but are not the remains of the living as spirits, but it's mostly just slight differences in terminology. I think that most of what we're saying is the same, but we are wording it differently. There doesn't seem to be any true unification of terminology in this field, unfortunately. That said, most of my experiences with these phenomena are that of either the undead sort or spirits, not with leftover energy nor with echos. When those close to me die, they sometimes visit me before they move on, and I would classify such existences as "ghosts". I've only had one experience with a regretful ghost, and that one lived in a friend's house. Doesn't seem to be too harmful as long as barriers are kept up, but again, it was regretful, not vengeful. I have, however, had quite a few experiences with "spirits", in that I've come across a few. The ones that stick out the most to me were probably a spirit serpent that followed me around for a bit, an elf that visited a few times, a local deity at Sensoji, a spirit "wasp", and a group of information-loving spirits. That said, I've encountered hundreds or thousands of spirits that were either hostile or of no interest, but those ones were more common and fairly easy to deal with. I don't think those that I classified as "spirits" generally interfere with normal people, or if they do it is not attributed to them, so they would usually not be counted in ghost stories.

I'm 100% sure that I have past life benefits, though I don't know the extent of them. That said, astral projection doesn't seem to be one of them. I find it possible that the level of contamination of my body is holding me back, though I've not seen any records of others having this kinda issue. Indeed, I've not seen records of people taking over a year of constant detox when starting cultivation, so my case may just be a bit more rare than most.

When I speak on ghosts, I am specifically referring to those of the undead variety. Echos of events, berserk energy, and ripples in time are certainly interesting phenomena, but would not classify as ghosts. Same with entities such as fairies and elves. Most ghosts from my personal experience are quite harmless, and don't stick around very long. I actually had to have my cat put down today, and she left her spirit behind for an hour or so before moving on. Certainly not harmful, nor malicious; she felt more loving than anything else. The ones that stick around are the ones that give people trouble, typically vengeful or regretful ghosts, and those are the ones that I refer to the environment being good for producing. Unfortunately, as countries go, America is in its teenage rebellion years. It hasn't yet found its proper identity, but it is trying to forcefully carve one out. Until it has found its own traditions and history, the air here will be rather bad in a spiritual sense.

The techniques I have been using are not sourced from my magical practice, rather, they are sourced from texts geared towards "normal" people. Most of them are new-age-type books. I practice a variant of high magic, or perhaps divine magic, though, in my case, it's more of a mix-mash of various traditions. Most of the spells I cast use internal energy as a catalyst to influence the external energy with no rituals. Nearly all of my rituals are internal or done via the mental landscape. Most of my current ability is learned from books, experimentation, and enlightenment, for lack of a better term. I was not fortunate enough to have a proper teacher in this regard, though I do seem to have a few attainments from past lives sticking to me. I have not tried the method listed there, so I will give it a shot later on today or tomorrow. Much thanks for the reply!

I do not think that the level of hatred is local or unique to America. I am saying that floating hatred/malice creates an ideal environment for harmful spirits to form, including ghosts. That said, I don't quite think that America has *that* many more ghosts than other places, just that it's an ideal spot for them to manifest and cause trouble.

If there were more ghosts in America than in most other places of the world, which I'm not quite sure of as an american, it would likely be due to the cruel practices that are local to here. Slavery is not local to America, but the level of hatred is. There have also been quite a few governmental experiments that *really* fucked up locals, though I don't know the extent of them. Another interesting factor is likely the lack of "purification" practices in american culture. We don't exactly have any viable methods of purifying land, ideas, or beings, that are widely practiced. We don't use symbols that lend themselves to purification, rather, we seem to tend towards symbols that invite others in. The cross is that of a crossroad, which allows our world to cross with others. Part of its power is to allow otherworldly beings in, which is why those of christian faith tend to use it for their rituals (it allows their god to enter and use its ability better). On top of all that, we're taught to believe that ghosts are just figments of our imagination, so many people actually go out of their way to piss off the ghosts because they think that said ghosts "don't exist". I'm not too well versed with practices outside of America, but I know that most Japanese places are plastered with circles and squares, both of which are symbols that are good for sealing. They also build many shrines and temples, which give homes for said spirits. The various festivals in Japan also serve as purification of intentions. When I traveled to Japan briefly, I finally understood how defiled the energy in America truly is. Japan felt "clean", despite its energetic pressure. When I got back to America by plane, it felt like I was landing in a rotting bloodpool energetically. All in all, America would have issues due to its practices, mindset, and environment.

You're definitely not the only one to experience whatever it is, but symptoms can manifest in different ways for different people. This is especially true for illnesses of the intangible. Another possibility I forgot to mention in my previous post is that of demonic influence, though I am not skilled enough to check on you to see if you're under it. That said, I'm sure someone on this forum is skilled enough in projection to check.

In the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine, they mention wiry pulse patterns, but I don't believe that this is what you're looking at. If it felt concentrated enough to be physical, it's possible that it was a somatic symptom, but I don't know enough to fully recommend anything in that regard. Quite frankly, to me, it feels like you have too much unmanaged stress combined with untreated underlying traumas. Speaking from a psychological perspective, there are no mental illnesses that manifest without stress, so it would be good to lower overall stressors and learn coping mechanisms to deal with stress. Yoga is a rather good coping mechanism, as is physical exercise. Emptiness meditation, martial arts, anime, and reading are my coping mechanisms, though everyone has their own fit. If western doctors and therapists cannot find anything substantial, go see a TCM doctor.