Nuralshamal

Dear Dao Bums, Question for you guys Do you have any interesting experiences with Jason Read and his Jasper Lake Maoshan Daoist Magic? I have seen a few posts here on Daobums about his books on daoist magic, but none about the actual daoist magic training with him. My own few observations A fellow qigong brother here on the forum that I'm corresponding with notified me about Jasper Lake Maoshan daoist magic training. I checked out his webpages and read all that I could, and am now reading through his book "Practical Daoist Magic". Webpages: I found the webpages extremely interesting, and I definitely felt what he's sharing to be real, authentic and substantial. I tried meditating on a talisman he's posted to connect with the energy of "the fire star" or Mars, and within 5 minutes I felt heat pouring into my body and getting heated up. I was extremely suprised how fast and powerfully it worked. I took this as a sign that what's he's sharing is truly legit! Book so far: The book is the same story in the sense that it feels very legit and authentic. All the history and mythology he's sharing is perfectly in line with what I've been taught by Master Zhongxian Wu (who I've learnt from for more than 6 years), as is his explanation for yin/yang, 5 elements, 8 trigrams (bagua) stems, branches etc. of course with some slight variations in their personal interpretations. His beginning practices "to cultivate magical power" is also similar to what I've learnt from Master Wu, namely building the lower dan tien, purifying & strengthening the 5 organ system, "retriving" or calling back the spirits of your organs as well as daily mantras for purification (mind, mouth, body, surroundings, pacifying spirits, calling upon the golden light etc). The idea of jing/qi/shen as well as mantra, mudra, visualisation and posture is also similar. All in all I feel it to be very real. What I especially enjoy is that as a westerner he explains things very clearly so that it's easy to understand from a western viewpoint. He also divulges the "secrets" of how things really work and explain the whole process as well as the end result. This is something my chinese teachers never do, they simply encourage you to practice, shoot down your questions, and never explain linearly and in a straight-forward way what things are, how they work, what the process is like, what the result will be or how to measure your progress along the way. The only thing that really made me stop and wonder, was that at some point in the book he says that 30 minutes before and after practice you shouldn't eat or drink (pretty standard advice), however then immediately after he says drinking "only cool water" is allowed. This is a huge shocker! Everyone knows that Chinese never suggest cold water, it should be either hot or lukewarm. This was a big suprise for me, and made me wonder and question how everything could be feel so real and authentic, yet this one basic thing was completely "off" for how Chinese qigong/TCM/cultivation usually rolls. Actually it was such a great shock that it made me question the authenticity of everything. Even though the fire star talisman worked (which I felt to build his credibility), and the explanations feel legit too (which also builds credibility) the advice to drink cool water was so off that it made me wonder and question everything about his whole story of training in China & Malaysia etc. This is what made me write a post here on the forum, I wanted to speak to my dao brothers and sisters and hear your experiences (if any) with Jason Read and his Jasper Lake Maoshan Daoist Magic training. I look forward to hear from you!

Dear Dao Bums, Went down a youtube rabbit hole lately, where I found some very fascinating interviews with black magic masters from Asia. I'll share the links and put a few of my comments on each, so you can decide if it's worth watching for you Malaysian "Ghost King" He shares his life story and how misery let him to this path of black magic and dealing with ghosts. I was surprised how human he seemed during the interview. I also felt he was surprisingly sincere in sharing his truth and life story, as well as how he sees his craft. Black Magic in Thailand, Part 1 & 2 What I found interesting in this interview is their magical "technology", meaning how their system works. He shares that there is a master which passes on the craft through initiation, and then later you get your own "spirit" which is your main helper. Another "take home" from this interview for me was that whenever you "open" your spiritual abilities, sight and so on, it will attract local spirits. Therefore in his lineage there's a way to open and close it, so as to not unecessarily attract spirits. This was huge for me, as I've struggled a lot with spirits after I started my lifelong "daily cultivation without fail" in 2013. After official mantra initiation a lot of things started happening around me, especially when I was travelling, and I never understood why. The system I was practicing was "pure spirituality", meaning simply purifying my soul and karma with the goal of serving Almighty God and all living beings. There was no magical or occult component, all was simple self-purification as well as acheiving inner peace. And when it really got bad, no one could really explain what was happening, nor help me overcome it, even all my traditional gurus (indian and chinese) who were very powerful. They simply didn't know about this part (spirits) and therefore couldn't help. So it's comforting to see that there are actually whole, traditional, authentic and just legit systems where all of this "spirit dealing" is systematized and well understood. Here's part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGOC9SKDr28 Thai Occult Magic & Love This one I just found funny and amusing. It really struck me how "human" and "sweet" thai people seem compared to some of the other asian nations that typically show no emotion at all. It's of course a cultural thing, also a cultural bias on my part, but still interesting for me to note (might be different for you of course). He kind of seemed like a "don", which I thought was fun Take Homes It seems there are indeed legit magical systems and lineages out there, who've really systematized how to alter our life using occult means, including ghosts. I would love to have a legit master and system so I can simply put this whole spirit thing "behind me", as it never really interested me, and I don't care much for it. I just want to be happy and healthy and enjoy the beauty of life as God intended. It's only out of necessity to overcome suffering that I'm looking into these things, because there was no one there for me when I needed it, and I understand now that it's a super rare, niche skill to have. I guess it's my own past life karmas coming back, and of course it's a part of God's divine plan, I am just trying to "Sherlock Holmes" what God wants for me in this area, since these things keep happening to me (spirits). All the best, hope you enjoy Let me know your reaction or take-homes from whatever video(s) you watch

Pretty old post! But let me chime in Philosophical Answer Evolution takes place through karma and reincarnation. We pass 7 kingdoms: Mineral, plant, animal, human being, wisdom, divine and bliss. We're currently about 50/50 between animal and human being. In about 3000 years this world will enter the True Human Kingdom, which is the paradise described by all religions: health, love, peace, prosperity and happiness. Animal behaviour means me and mine first, to the detriment of you. Selfish. Human behaviour means others before me, to the benefit of others. Sefless. So the 50% goodness in our world is due to the slow awakening of our human nature, whereas the 50% bad in the world is due to all the selfish, animal natures acting out. We get karma in 3 domains: 1) towards ourselves, 2) towards others, 3) towards the animals The rule to stop all creation of bad karmas (which create suffering for us), and to only create good karma (which gives us goodness is: 1) never hurt yourself or others, in neither thoughts, words nor deeds, 2) help alleviate the suffering of others when possible, 3) compensate those you've hurt and ask their forgiveness 4) be a blessing to all living beings. To optimise karma in each domain, some practical tools are: 1) towards ourselves (look after sleep, food, stress, lifestyle, make sure to exercise, think positive thoughts), 2) towards others is the above general rules, 3) become vegetarian or even vegan. To overcome whatever suffering we're currently going through the best tool is prayer. Prayer is a science, I've shared some of Martinus' thoughts on it here: https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/39530-the-power-of-prayer-why-does-it-work/ So in short, evil is necessary for spiritual development in the current phase of planet earth and our own soul development. We start 100% evil and selfish, and then the more evil we do, the more negative karma return to us. The more negative karma, the more we suffer. The more we suffer, the more compassion we develop for the suffering of others. When we reach the point of being unable to hurt ourselves or others, we're in the clear, all karma is wiped clean and forgiven. Practical Answer There is of course also just the simple, daily, practical part: e.g. if our suffering is healthwise, we can investigate how to heal ourselves with diet, herbs, qigong, exercise and lifestyle, then we don't suffer anymore. Or if it's due to relationships: we can read and study about that online and learn practical tools to deal with the issues we're facing and getting our needs met. Similarly with love and sex. If it's due to money, we can learn and study about money, budgets, networking, career, investment etc and start to level up and rid ourselves of worry and debt. If it's mental and emotional, we can work with that with therapy, counseling and of course qigong and meditation for peace. So if it's something practical, we can rise to the challenge and overcome it. Wish you all the best

Hey @Perceiver, thanks for sharing, great topic. Yes, I will gladly share my own experiences as well as why I think it works. Some Early Experiences First experience 4-10 years old When I was a kid, whenever I was in the state between awake and dream (passing through this intermediary stage while falling asleep), I would have visions and hear sounds in my right ear. I just thought this was normal. However, when I was about 10 years old I started to get scared of it. So I asked my dad about it. He said that I should pray to God about it. After that, it completely stopped and I could sleep soundly. Second experience, 13 years old My dad took me to see his guru in a village in India since I was just 4 years old. He was a huge influence on me, my dad and our life, my dad went on a yearly retreat under his guidance for almost 20 years until he passed. I was about 12 years old when the guru passed on, and we were obviously all pretty sad for a while. In that period I wore some of the gifts the guru had given me last I saw him alive, it was a simple kind of mala-like necklace, I always wore it, day and night, I would never take it off. When me and my dad was on a summer camp when I was about 13, I was still wearing it day and night. However, one night I went to a local football field and did some gymnastics, sommersaults, wind mills etc, just having fun as a kid. When I got back home, to my great horror I realized my necklace was missing! I quickly figured it must've fallen off during my gymnastics. I felt so sad, and in that moment I prayed "God, if you're real, please help me find this necklace, it was a gift from the guru who's now passed, I will never see him again, this is the last memory of what he gave me, the last time I saw him before he passed. If you let me find it, I will forever worship you". I went back to the football field, it was pitch black by now, the grass was high, and the mala/necklace was black and quite thin. When I was there I realized there is no way I will be able to find it, it's too big an area, it's pitch black, the necklace is too small, even in broad daylight with 10-20 people going over the field, probably it would not be possible to find it. Lo and behold, as I prayed again, I started having visions. In the black behind my eyes I saw a blue arrow. It pointed left, then I went left for some time. Then I closed my eyes, it pointed straight ahead, I went ahead. I continued like that for maybe 5-10 minutes, and lo and behold, I closed my eyes and saw it pointing downwards - I opened my eyes, kneeled down, AND THERE IT WAS! I cried with happiness, put it back on, and went back home again. God is real! Proposed Explanation For Mechanics Of Prayer When I was 18 years old, just before being drafted to serve in the armed forces, I read a small booklet by a Danish mystic called Martinus. It was called "the power of prayer". In it he explained the exact divine mechanism of prayer. I was blown away. It all made perfect sense! Since that day, I started praying daily, many times per day, 'round the clock. When going out of the house, before eating, before transport, before school, before meeting friends, at all times I was in direct prayerful contact with Almighty God. Then I went into the army where life was obviously very tough. No sleep, no food, physical exhaustion, grueling conditions etc. I was spinning my internal prayerwheel 24/7. This was where I really experienced first hand, that the science of prayer is real. It's predictable, it's logical, it's precise, it never fails. Prayer is the easiest and simplest thing to do, yet it's the most powerful thing we can do. Science Of Prayer According to Danish Martinus there are 4 levels of prayer we ascend through the more we pray. It's a muscle we develop. Level 1: The wishlist This is when people first start praying: please dear God, give me a ferrari, 10 million dollars (tax free please), a supermodel wife and a harem of 36 beautiful sexual goddesses of all races, colors and exciting body types, and never let me work another day in my life or have any kind of difficulty ever again. Amen! Unfortunately, this prayer goes against most rules (rules I will explain down below). Hence it's seldomly fulfilled. This makes people stop and disbelieve in the power of prayer. Level 2: energy to overcome my self-created karma This where you ask for the strength, power, energy and positive mindset to go through whichever challenge you're currently facing. This is actually the intended use of prayer: psychic comfort. Imagine holding open a tap, the water comes gushing out. While holding the tap open, we simultaneously pray: Dear Lord, let not even a single drop of water flow out! That's what we usually do, when we ask God to relieve of us our suffering. We ourselves comitted thoughts, words and deeds, sent a certain energy out into the universe. However, when the consequences return, we try to rid ourselves of it through prayer. Sorry, no can do. If you open the tap, water's coming out. If you hit others, you will be hit. No matter if you're a sinner or a saint, if you jump from a tall building, you're going to fall down. So prayer cannot safe you from yourself. However, it can give you the strength to take your karma like a man. Just like Jesus could forgive his executioners, like Muhammad could endure 3 years of ridicule in Mecca, like Moses could endure freeing and later leading the quite troublesome Israelites through the desert, like Rama could take 14 years of exile in the forest, this is the true power of prayer and its best use: go through any conceivable scenario with completely equanimity and mental balance. Level 3: praying for the best solution for the greater good, even at personal cost e.g. ménage à trois where your wife is now in love with another man; it might be that in the eyes of God, this is actually what's best for the universe. This new man and your wife will truly be happier together and be a greater blessing to the world. This is obviously very painful. However, if you pray over an impossible situation for the best possible solution, even if it's to your personal detriment, quickly you will be inspired exactly how to proceed. Level 4: direct back and forth communication with God This is the highest level and comes naturally to all with practice. Whenever you pray to God, God answers you back. When you reach this level, you'll be at the same level as all the prophets and avataras. No matter what the universe throws at you, you can never be rocked. You have the power to accept it as your self-created destiny, and through prayer you get the strength to go through it with perfect equanimity, inner comfort and ease. The 3 rules determining whether a prayer can be fulfilled is: 1) God's plan for the universe, 2) Your personal life plan, 3) Your self-created karma. If your prayer is in accord with these 3 rules, IT... WILL... ALWAYS... BE... FULFILLED! No exceptions. This means complete, sure fire 100% prayer fulfillment guarantee. And yes, this is the most powerful tool we've all been freely given by Almighty God. How to know God's plan for the universe? This will take a little study of Martinus' thoughts about the universe, but said shortly we are eternal, uncreated, immortal beings, forever evolving through karma and reincarnation. In our current cycle we go through: 1) mineral kingdom, 2) plant kingdom, 3) animal kingdom, 4) True Human kingdom, 5) Wisdom Kingdom, 6) Divine World, 7) Kingdom of Ecstasy Then we start over again in a higher cycle. We're currently 50/50 animal and human. So current point for us is to rid ourselves of our animal, selfish nature, where we hurt others for our own gain, and instead cultivate our human nature of tolerance, love, forgiveness and intellectuality. How we do that is through karma: the more we suffer, the more compassion we develop for others. You do bad, it returns, you suffer, your learn your lesson. There is no shortcut - to proceed to true human being we need to develop our love and intelligence to the next level. Love and compassion is through suffering, intelligence is in competition for the daily bread. Once these are balanced, you start to level up. So if your're in any way, shape or form praying for something that will cause pain to yourself or others, it can never be fulfilled. Similarly, if you're praying to make your karma go away, it will never work, as the karma is the only way you develop compassion. As spiritual development (includiong love and compassion) is the whole point of existence, obviously you can't override God's universal laws with it. Anything that's considered good for you and all living beings will be heard, anything that's bad will be ignored. You can see a symbol explaning prayers of different levels and how they're fullfilled or not fulfilled here: https://www.martinus.dk/en/online-library/symbols/index.php?symbol=21 You can read the full explanation here: https://www.martinus.dk/en/online-library/ttt/index.php?mode=opslag&bog=62&stk=21&pkt=6 If you're generally interested in spiritual development, meaning of life, judgement day, karma and reincarnation, sex, pretty much the TRUTH about life (including meditation and spiritual practice, health, sickness and healing), here's all his symbols: https://www.martinus.dk/en/online-library/symbols/ God bless you!

Dear Dao Bums, Intro: I was super stoked to discover this gem of a text today: 白羽黑翮靈飛玉符 - Báiyǔ hēi hé líng fēi yù fú - White Feather Black Wings Spirit Flying Jade Talisman In short, it supposedly originates in the Southern Period of the Eastern Jin dynasty (266–420). Contents: It presents a cosmological origin story of the text, supposedly also in secret language sharing its version of the secrets of alchemy (if one can decode it). Thereafter it's very short and to the point. It presents 5 talismans, one blue, one white, one red, one black and one yellow. For each talisman it shares the secrets of its cultivation: 1) name of the spirit cultivated, 2) years of practice required, 3) where in the "heavens" you can fly to upon completing its cultivation, 4) who the "recipient" of the talisman is, 5) where to put the talisman on your body to actually start your spirit flight, 6) color of silk to write it on, size specification for the silk, and where on your body to put it when cultivating, 7) direction of the 6 Jia and 6 Ding while cultivating. My interpretation: Based on my experience with internal alchemy as taught by Master Zhongxian Wu, nearly everything in the text is in code. Unfortunately I won't say I've reached a sufficient level to be able to interpret the text with full confidence, but I have some viewpoints I'd like to share. It would also be very interesting if any of you are Chinese speakers, to hear your understanding of the original, Chinese text. Many of the details given (years of practice required, where in the heavens you can fly to, recipient of the talisman, where to put it on your body, direction of the liu ding liu jia) are very simple to decode. It simply shows the element of each talisman. E.g. blue/green is Eastern qi, related to liver and gallbladder, your left side, and when it says you'll be adorned with a "blue/green" robe, it just means the color of the qi during your visualisation and the heavenly qi you'll ascend to/connect with. Number of years is related to numeroloy, and all the numbers give away the relationships with Trigrams, Hexagrams, Heavenly and Earthly Stems, Timing of the days, Seasons of the Year, Astrology, Meridians and Organs, in short the whole symphony of Chinese qi culture. What I personally loved about it is the simplicity. Just one mantra to be said before practice, then you do the visualisation for each talisman, and you're set. It will refine your body, organ, qi, jing, qi, shen, meridians, qi field, feng shui, everything all the way up to the immortal fetus leaving your physical body to take flight and explore the cosmic qi. One talisman for each element. Further, I'm super interested in astral travel, and this text alludes to it in great detail - feathers, wings, take flight. Of course it could be interpreted in many ways. The talismans are all called "xxx ling fei yu fu". Then replace the xxx with: Shang (blue), xia (white), zuo (red), you (black), tai (yellow). Ling I know also means "spirit" or soul, as far as I remember "ling qi" is the chinese term for the japanese Rei Ki, meaning universal qi. Ling also means soul - if a qigong master cannot make it rain (in the old days), it's said he hasn't got "ling" or soul. There's no soul behind his mantra, mudra, talisman and dance form, hence the Gods/Heaven/Cosmic Energy don't respond to his practice. Fei can also mean lung, relating to qi in general, breath, mist, vapor. The names also seem to allude to the 3 Hun Souls, shang, you & tai (tai guang, shuang ling, you jing) It makes sense that in out of body travel, it's the Hun that travels (as one Hun has our eternal soul which reincarnates, another Hun has the soul which remember all our past lives, and last Hun our intelligence). But I don't know what "xia" and "zuo" could be. Overall each name kind of "gives away" the true alchemical purpose (xxx ling fei yu fu), to refine each of our 5 elements to the highest degree, reshape our body in the shape of the universe (astronomical constellations), get our spirits back into our body (hun soul and organ spirits), using qi (the fei part) and cultivate ling or soul. Don't know if the "yu" could refer to the OG shaman king Yu who through stepping connected with the big dipper, the seven stars, yin/yang and the 5 elements, sun/moon and the 5 planets. Maybe it means that we will also fly in the cosmic qi like he did if we do this practice. Conclusion Any Chinese speakers who would like to give their understanding of the text? Any alchemy people out there, who could point to any living tradition using this text as their alchemy guide? Link: http://www.ctcwri.idv.tw/CTCW-CMTS/CMT01洞真部/CMT0102神符類/CMT0102ALL/CNDZ010205白羽黑翮靈飛玉符.htm

Hey bro, thanks for chiming in! Super interesting bits of info Yes, it's a super different kind of moral code for sure. The first initation I had was hindu mantra diksha, about 1 year after spirits started searching me out wherever I went, whenever I did the mantra, even though it was just mantra for inner peace and purification. Thanks for sharing your stories! Yes, it's super fascinating

No no, I just used google translate I just wanted to see if anyone knew more about this system.

Dear Dao Bums, I wanted to share this simple set of exercises: https://www.diamondbodypractice.com/videos It's from the Diamond Approach & Diamond Logos. An integration and further development of Buddhism, Sufism, Daoism, Hinduism and Psychology. I wasn't much impressed when I just briefly looked over the exercises, but I was curious so I decided to try it with my wife. I felt a kind of connection with the "field of the school" coming down and creating a space of "holding" as well as transmission throughout the exercises. I was quite intrigued, as it focuses on the center beneath the feet, the belly center, heart center, head center and the center above the head as well as the central channel linking them all together. It also encourages you to inquire into your experience, explore your body and soul mindfully. Now it's been just over a week, but my wife is feeling energy vibration in all centers as well as her hands doing the "aum" mantra movement, and I am quite impressed with the whole thing to be honest. So just wanted to put it out there and share it, hoping to benefit all living beings

I'm looking forward to @Earl Grey and @senseless virtue chiming in with the Dong Fang Shui Gong of John Dolic & Nan Yun would love to their thoughts based on their experience with this system. What I know from Master Wu's sleeping qigong is that as long as your sleep quality is better, that means you're doing it right That's one of the main things: sleep quantity and sleep quality. The more quality the less quantity you need. My best experience in retreat was "black out sleep on command". I experienced it 2 times in retreat, and maybe 2 times at home on my own. It takes a long time of dedicated practice, and it also depends on your karma from previous lifetimes how fast the full effects will fructify. If your karma is good, it's super fast.

@senseless virtue This is incredible! It's 5 years later now, did you do the advanced course too? Would love to hear more

@Earl Grey Would you mind sharing some more about the program? I read about it online, it seems there's a 9 hour basic course and an 8 hour advanced course after 1 year's practice. Did you do both? And of course you don't need to reveal all :'D just the gist of it.

Dear Dao bums, I've been reading this blog on daoist sorcery on/off for a few years. There's a lot of interesting info on there. The "main thing" is that the teacher running the site talks about using Ku Man Tong to win the local lottery in Singapore. Honestly I never really took it seriously, I just thought it was kind of hilarious that someone would spend so much time and energy spiritually on something which seems so borderline useless - why not just make money in a normal way? I know Singapore is a well-developed country, surely it would make more sense to work your way up career-wise or start your own business instead of trying to win the lottery. But again, I know for sure I'm personally biased against so many things in life due to religious/conservative upbringing - eating meat, gambling, drinking alcohol, illicit sex, these were considered the end of the world morally and karmically, and a sure-fire way to self-destruction. However, now that I'm grown I see that these things are seen as completely "normal" by a lot of people, as no big deal. "Gambling Gods" and talismans are even a thing in Chinese Magic. So I work to let go of all this conditioning and just be open. Anyway, I just wanted to ask you; did any of you ever try contacting this guy? If yes, what was your experience with him? (him as a teacher, as a person, and of course whether his magic works). Here's the link to his blog: https://taoist-sorcery.blogspot.com/2025/03/my-fate-life-is-up-to-me-not-god-heaven.html I do think he seems quite sympathetic and well-informed in most of his posts, including the one I linked above. Let me know if any of you has experience with him

@Nosferatu thanks for your message Yes, I can only imagine the amount of negative energy practitioners in Brazil! Must be huge, all the mix of native traditions, african slaves voodoo traditions, I'm sure there's a lot of stuff going on. The people I've met in my life from South and Meso America as well as the Carribbean are all much more connected to energy, the spiritual world, ancestors etc, and unfortunately also negative energy such as dark spirits and black magic. Not to fear though, if there's a lot of energy in a place, there will also be positive energy present. The challenge is seeking and finding the positive variants, and also getting experts in the occult if one has particular issues about that. I had the same challenge my whole life: I was just a simple person, just want to get peace from meditation, do good deeds and have great health. But karma from past lives led me into contact with a lot of dark spirits, negative energy and black magic, even though I never was interested in this to begin with. I personally found relief from Sufism and Hinduism. I had a personal teacher in each who gave me mantras and rituals to do. And over time, it slowly improved. I had tools to deal with most. Then if something new happened I couldn't handle, I would keep seeking solutions, and again finding it in Sufism and Hinduism. So it seems we all have karma from past lives dictating the negativity we'll face, but also karma dictating when/where and how we will find relief. My father never wanted to pay attention to spirits etc, only recently did he tell me that since he began meditating in his early 20s, there would be spirits standing at his bed at night as well as early morning. He never understood who they were or what they wanted. He also didn't care much about it or looking into it. Maybe a kind of denial. However, when I was about 12 or so, we were on pilgrimage in India together. One day we went to swim in the river, and my dad asked the locals about any holy men or saints nearby we could visit. People kept mentioning a black magic practitioner living in the graveyard, but they warned us to steer clear lest we get cursed. My dad is super curious and also wants to show everyone he's not scared, so we swam up the river about 500-700 metres to get to the graveyard. I didn't understand much, but my dad spoke to him for maybe 30-90 minutes. He explained his spiritual path and how it worked. Then my dad explained his troubles. He took some holy ash from his fireplace and gave to my dad, gave some instructions on how to use it. When we got back home and my dad used the ashes, then he has been clear of issues for maybe 20-30 years now. Only 1 or 2 minor occurences, but not every night like it used to be. So he also suddenly found relief from Hinduism. Maybe you're similarly destined to suffer bad karma from a previous lifetime, yet you're also destined to find relief in this lifetime from a particular path. I found it through Sufism and Hinduism, the 2 streams of spirituality I was pretty much raised with. But for me it was through years of daily practice, suffering, searching yet not finding, then practicing more, and then in a gradual manner finding relief. For my dad it was years of not understanding, not caring, ignoring, and then suddenly finding final relief just by chance from Hinduism. In Brazil I know IAC (international academy for consciousness). I've taken all their programs in Europe and some in the US. I learnt a lot of good stuff, benefitted a lot. There are also some of them who specialise in "intruders". That's what they call negative spirits. There's a whole course on it, why it happens, how it happens and ways to avoid it and ways to deal with it. It helped me a lot at the time. So if you're in Brazil maybe you can go through their courses and maybe one of them who specialises in dealing with negative energy can help you to stop it, and also to over time become autonomous and independent so you yourself can deal with it. Let me know how it goes All the best!

@EFreethought Haha, epic comment. I agree with you! It seems weird that he shows photos and films of his altar, talismans and magical items. Usually in Chinese thought others should never see your magic items or altar, as that will leak the qi. So I thought, ok, there are 3 options: 1) he is a complete fake, not following the most basic rule, 2) he wants to share his goodness and doesn't mind the leak, 3) he is so confident in the power of his altar, talismans, spirits etc that he has a "come what may, I am more powerful than you anyway". It takes a lot to continously sustain such an elaborate site, write so many blogs and keep on posting content, so he's committed for sure. But what is he comitted to? Spreading goodness? Selling his services and making more money? Plus, his content is pretty good, original, seems legit. That's why I got curious

Pretty interesting interview I saw today (link at the bottom). She explains how self-cultivation and connecting to the universal energy will create spiritual abilities naturally through overflow and practice, as well as the blessing from the master. She then compares it to deity possession and keeping spirits, and how this way of getting spiritual powers actually drains your jing, qi and shen over time. So unless you know how to refill, you will shorten your own life span, decrease your vitality, decrease luck and wealth qi, and when whatever you're calling and relying on is done with you, it will move on to your family members and others close to you. In short, more or less an explanation aligning very well with the visions I got earlier, which I shared a couple of days ago Also makes sense compared to other Chinese masters like Zhongxian Wu (Master Wu), Chunyi Lin (Spring Forest Qigong) and Lie He (Ling Gui). They all look healthy and vital for their age. As does the woman in the interview I'm about to share (haven't stumbled across her before today - she's called Liu Xia). Also if you take a look at Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche who teaches tummo and is very focused on what he calls tantrayana and body-focused practices, he looks very healthy and radiant for his age. Here's the interview, it's just 2-3 minutes. Take heed my brothers and sisters, be mindful of cultivating your jing, qi and shen daily through qigong form an authentic lineage practice taught by a true master who radiates and exemplifies health, peace and vitality.

@johndoe2012 Thanks for sharing your personal experiences! Deeply appreciated Glad to hear about you and your mom's progress. Family harmony is so important in so many ways. All the best! Cheers

@stirling Thanks for sharing your thoughts I actually enjoy our exchange. Yes, I agree, this is also the view I was philosophically taught and forced myself to subscribe to most of my life, that we are Brahman or the Absolute. Which I still agree with I also really like and enjoy Buddhism and see all the benefits it brings, including its views. It's super helpful for meditation and self-inquiry, and really great to go to the Absolute. However, I always felt it weird and in complete opposition to my own personal basic experience of life, as well as that of the vast majority of people; firstly that the one true God doesn't exist, and secondly the individual as a True Person (as opposed to a construct) also doesn't really exist. The very first spiritual experiences I had was of this unique, individual Self, the Atman in Hinduism, the Ruh in Sufism, I felt it to be self-evident that this is the basic, fundamental reality for all of us. A bear, a cat, a fish, they're individuals moving about in the ocean of existence, full of other individuals. All one in the ocean, but each with their unique characteristica. Just like two raindrops (even though water) are completely unique in structure if you zoom in with a microscope. Similarly with snowflakes, or grains of sand, or even just two rocks. If you go and speak to people and ask how they experience themselves and their daily life, they indeed experience themselves as an individual interacting with other individuals. Of course great scientists and great saints see and experience reality in a profound way that the majority might not, but if what they come up with is in direct opposition to the basic experience of reality, of course we should be curious as to why, and which of these findings it really makes sense for us to take and live by as our own. Simply to hold it up to our own basic experience and see where it matches up and where it doesn't. Not as a final conclusion, but a temporary hypothesis. Just to avoid being mindless followers and instead think for ourselves. And I generally feel (myself included) that it brings more harm than good to take the conclusions of others from thousands of years ago and praise it as absolute truth, even if it doesn't match our own basic experience of life and of ourselves. I think it should be the other way around: firstly we investigate our own basic experience of life, then we sample the conclusions of the wise (scientists and saints) and see how it helps explain our experience. If I had done this I would have been a much happier and fulfilled man today, instead of living on group-think (no matter how well-intentioned) for decades. But of course I had to go through all these experiences in order to find my own truth, which is now resulting in my personal fulfillment and happiness. It kind of makes sense, that at the end of the day, fulfilling your own dreams will give you more personal happiness and satisfaction than fulfilling the ultimate dream of a complete stranger from 1000s of years ago. It's kind of like taking a tiger and training it to shave, beg for food, meditate and be a vegetarian, it's just silly. That's not the level it's at. It needs to live in harmony with it's evolutionary step, in Hinduism and Buddhism its personal dharma. Only then will it firstly enjoy personal fullfillment and happiness, but it will also serve it's intended purpose in the cosmos (the Brahman). Similarly that's what happened to me and honestly the vast majority of white, western people I've seen in my life. They're really a tiger, but force themselves to live like sheep. Or they're really a fish, but force themselves to live like a lizrd (just to give an example that's more neutral, I see the tiger vs sheep could indicate a bias, which wasn't my intention). Just meaning that they pursue something else than the basic truth of their life and station (as intended by the cosmos), so firstly they never find true happiness, and even worse, they actually avoid fulfilling their true dharma. If you're intended to be a lifelong celibate monk on a mountain, go for it. You'll achieve happiness and also serve your dharma. However, if you're intended to be a businessman, a family man, a warrior or soldier, a security guard, a tantric sex master, a scientist, you'll never find happiness as a celibate monk on a mountain, and most importantly you'll actually let down the intention of the cosmos. My intention is not to say that any path is superior, as I obviously think it's true for some people to go down that path towards the Absolute, my intention is simply to share my own personal experience in order to hopefully inspire people to think for themselves, and realize that if they're really a bear deep down, go live a bear life, if you're a fish, go swim, if you're a bird, go fly. Instead of trying to be a cat when you're really a dog If you're really an Absolutist, go for it! Surf in the Absolute, enjoy the cosmic experience however, if you deep down long for love, great sex, living a sucessful life materially, that's what you should go for, not what someone else prescribed a completely different people 1000s of years ago. So if your soul is really a Buddhist, go for it Stirling!! glad you're on your true path

Hey, thanks for chiming in! And thanks for clarifying. I like your use of lowercase self and uppercase Self, great way to illustrate it. Of course many viewpoints on this exist in different traditions. Maybe I can clarify a bit more what I meant with the Sufi view, which is so unique. Then again, it’s quite similar to standard, western ideas as well, going all the way back to Ancient Greek philosophy too, so it is indeed shared by many. Eternal, uncreated, unborn individual Self, or individual consciousness we could also call it. Incarnates forever in an ascending manner as mineral, plant, animal, human being and beyond. It’s always untouched and unaffected by experience. Then of course the well-known universal consciousness, maybe this is the capital letter Self you mean? Feel free to chime in here However the ‘self’, ego, pearl, what I was referring to before is a created thing, it’s a ‘soul organ’ if you will, the connector between the untouched and uncreated universal consciousness, manifesting as the individual consciousness, contacting or connecting these two eternally untouched consciousnesses (which are in reality One, just mentioning them for clarity) with this physical world. Not the ‘ego image’ we carry in our minds, the true, objective reality manifesting as the physical world. This soul organ, connecting organ if you will, is affected by everything we go through. Childhood, trauma, schooling, you name it. However, it can be developed, also through spiritual practice. This secret organ is what allows one to be functional in the world, yet not of it. Not as an ego or mental construct or idea, but as your true soul. It’s what’s alluded to in all our fairy tales - the individual goes through a journey and ends up transforming to a higher level. It’s your personal, magical adventure. All the beauty and magic of overcoming the obstacles we go through in life, and the material and spiritual rewards we earn, all are included. Most western people will never find true soul satisfaction through the eastern denial of a True, individuated self. I’m not denying it’s possible, of course there are great things to be learnt, but in the end most flush out the baby with the bath water. That’s what I’ve seen with myself, and also from a lifetime in spiritual circles (Hinduism, Buddhism and Sufism). I made a post about this difference between East and West recently, I see it as so important. This unique individual soul organ was what I was referring to earlier, not the psychological construct that is the false, ego-self (lower case, simply an empty idea, no substance). This soul organ is made of spiritual substance, soul, it feels incredibly at ease, contactful, personal and just soul-ful, fulfilling and is referred to as ‘the pearl beyond price’, the Mohammadan pearl in Sufism, and many different forms all over the world, especially as jewelry or alchemical substances. The above was the ‘cherry on top’, the magical missing piece in my own spiritual journey

Yes, that sounds very true. I don't want to bad mouth him or ruin his reputation, he also does a good deed by sharing and translating all this stuff, I don't hold any real grudge, contempt or animosity towards him personally. I just saw this pattern over many months, and was of course personally hurt by it (my wife freaked out because I had never had black bags under the eyes before), so it is indeed quite serious. I simply wish to give people a fair warning, so they can be mindful and make an informed and conscious choice

Dear Daobums, I've cultivated daily under Jason for more than 1.5 years now, and wish to give you all a warning, which is in pretty stark contrast to my former positive messages. WARNING He's a very knowledgeable guy regarding this exceptionally niche subject "chinese folk magic", and he's very good at explaining things to westerners. You can also get results from all his methods, provided you do daily cultivation in a serious manner, doing the 49 day cycles etc. HOWEVER, I feel a need to share this warning. If you see him in his interviews or join some live classes, he looks quite pale and always has big black bags under the eyes. In other words, he doesn't exude the vitality that's usually associated with high level internal alchemy and cultivation. This is of course a huge warning sign, it has also been mentioned on the forum before. Chinese Magic is super tangible, you can physically see and feel it, health wise, money wise, relationship wise, career wise and so on, including health. So him not exuding health is not a good sign at all. Epic health and longevity is pretty much the unique trademark of the chinese branch of magic and cultivation if you compare it to other systems around the world. Having cultivated with his teachings daily without fail for more than 19 months and interacted with him in classes, I got two visions I'd like to share. Dark Entity Siphoning Your Life Force Firstly, he's connected to some sort of dark spiritual entity siphoning his life force. That's why he looks so pale and black bags under the eyes. In my whole life I never suffered from this, even during brutal army life with zero sleep. Whenever I was in contact with him, suddenly my face also turned pale and lifeless, and I had huge black bags under my eyes. It would last for weeks and even months. Only after not being in contact with him for several months did I go back to normal. Secondly, you might know I'm also into Kabbalah and Sufism, which focuses on developing the ego so it gets refined over time and is transmuted into soul. This happens through working with oneself and one's ego actively. This is not there in the same way in Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism and so on, here you either transcend your ego, seek to destroy it, or just regulate it or tame it somewhat. It's not the very specific a grain of sand into a pearl transformation known from Sufism. For many soul qualities, there are 2 variants: ego variant (negative, before working with oneself, base state for most people on planet Earth) and the soul variant (positive state, either inherited or developed through inner work). They're usually referred to using archetypes, just like in fairy tales: e.g. Gremlin (trickster, devoid of fun, only gets joy from tricking and manipulating others), which is the fake ego variant of True Joy (being joyful without cause, just as a natural state), Satan or "The Beast" (hateful and vengeful, wishing to in the end destroy all that is good), which is the fake ego variant of true inner power (actually serving humanity), and there are many variants like that. E.g. lust is transformed over time to fulfillment, anger is transformed to strength and so on. His ego is a Goblin: meaning he's hoarding gold (all this knowledge of cultivation and magic), yet he doesn't understand the true worth of it. Meaning he's simply hoarding for hoarding's sake, instead of actually applying it. If he applied just 1% of what he knew (he's super knowledgeable), there's no way he would exude this lack of vitality, nor be the victim of some dark, spiritual entity. Lastly, he also tricks all people connected to him in a manipulative way. This is to "get them off their game", which then in the end opens the person to allow this dark entity to also siphon their life force. He has a pattern, it never fails. Let me explain and give examples. Manipulative Mind Games When it comes to classes, he will announce them. Everyone will pay and mark it in their calendar, spending time and effort to make time for it, looking forward to it etc. On the day he will post nothing and do nothing, simply wait back until confused people who had looked forward to the meeting start desperately messaging "what's going on? when's the event? where's the link?". This "chaos phase" is where people go into negative states, where they focus their attention on Jason, and this is where the evil entity can come in and feed off of them. Then he will post an excuse after sufficient people have been negatively impacted and the entity has been fed. It's the same if you make an agreement to talk with him. He will set a day. Then on the day he will wait for you to reach out. Then he will not respond. Finally after sufficient energy had been sapped he will cancel and come up with an excuse. Then you schedule a new day. On the day he will suddenly ahead of time say "i'm ready now". Then you reach out, he doesn't respond. Suddenly he says "oh sorry, something's come up, can you meet at this other time instead?". You go out of your way, change your daily schedule to agree. Then before that time he will suddenly call and say "it's now or never, something else has come up". So it's a kind of manipulative mind game, and it's each and every time, it's a pattern. It's just not one time, it's every, single, time. And it's the exact same pattern. It's a method this dark entity can eat the life force of all these people when they "spiritually" depend on him or open themselves to him, and then force them into negative states through the mind games. Conclusion So if you're into all this chinese magic, by all means, you can study and learn a lot from the rare materials and methods he posts, but just be extremely cautious if you decide to interact with him personally. A true master is content, as they practice what they preach and find true inner fulfillment, whereas this Goblin attitude shows that he has not harvested the true fruit of cultivation, namely contentment, chivalry, honesty, compassion and wishing the best for oneself and others (not to mention vitality!!!!). And it's nothing like the "testing" usually done by chinese masters; this I've unfortunately experienced first hand many times as well, where they test your commitment over time. The difference is the intent (testing to see your true mettle actually with the noble intent of eventually passing knowledge and power on to you, vs manipulating to get someone off their game and let the dark entity feed on your life force). Disturbingly for a self-proclaimed maoshan black magic master, he might not even know this is happening to him, or that the entity is making him do it. Or even more disturbingly, he might be fully aware, and still cooperate with it for whatever knowledge or power it gives him and consciously suck so many people's vitality. So be warned and tread wisely my dear brothers and sisters. Personal Epilogue I had personally really hoped I could be friends with him and skip this whole terrible chinese mind game culture, which I don't feel suits the straight forward western mind at all. Honestly I feel it's a waste of time. Even if you give someone the most powerful method, they would never be able to use it, as no one has the discipline to do daily cultivation. I see it all the time, I've taught almost 100 people SKY now, opening their chakras, empowering them, and no matter how blown away they are at the courses when they feel the energy, and they feel the boost to their health and happiness, none continue as daily practitioners. It's just a one-off experience, something to tell their friends. I think of these 100, maybe 2 actually knew the worth of "the gold" they were given and still use it daily. I would love to just talk to a "normal white guy friend" in a direct manner, exchanging experiences and growing in knowledge. Or even as a coach or mentor, seeing your personal life, energy and destiny, wishing you the best, and helping you reach your full potential with a personalized, individual approach. But instead it's been 19 months of cultivating with a goal of actually going somewhere "real" with Maoshan, instead of the more "pop" (albeit powerful and effective) health and healing qigong that's out there, and I have been blown away at these "forbidden" methods actually working, honestly I have, but I feel it's more due to the 12 years of daily meditation and 10 years of daily qigong cultivation I've already done, which allows the methods to work, than due to mentoring or coaching. If any of you out there know real masters, with real power, skill and cultivation, who're also "normal" in the sense they don't play games, you can actually talk to them directly, they want to help you, and they have the skills and power to do so, please let me know Wish you all the best, God bless you, be mindful, stay safe and take common sense precautions on your journey. Judge a person by their actions, which show their true character, not their words, which is just an attempt to show a certain image or facade.

Dear Daobums, Felt like sharing some of my realizations about God, Soul, East, West & the Enneagram. God & Soul - East 'n West In general Daoism, Buddhism and Hinduism as cultures are very collectivistic, it's all about the family, tribe, clan, caste or group. Further, the religions strongly emphasis the great, all-encompassing, impersonal Absolute. The universal consciousness. The Dao, Nirvana & Brahman. In Western culture and philosophy there's an enormeous amount of focus on the individual consciousness. The person, the soul, the individual. In the East it's all about giving everything up, melting, dissolving, disappearing, remove everything until only the universal remains and we escape this world and the issues of our personal life. The aim and focus is always the impersonal. In the West it's all about the development of the individual: virtues (things to cultivate), sins (things to avoid), achievements, development, personal fulfillment, it's all about the individual life journey in this world, the personal adventure, overcoming challenges and obstacles, evolving and acheiving your dreams. The aim is always the individual. The Enneagram In the enneagram there are 9 types of individual consciousnesses, or types of individual souls. According to the Diamond Approach and the Diamond Logos, a synthesis and further development of sufism, buddhism, daoism and modern psychology, we actually have 2 types, which gives us very important hints about why we came to this world. Each type has an ego-mission and a soul mission. The soul mission is why our soul came to this world, what we wanted to do, what we wanted to create and contribute, what we wanted to develop and experience. The ego mission is how our soul lost track of this due to family dynamics and instead got trapped in a particular soul quality. It got fixated on saving the family. The idea was to temporarily help our family to be more harmonious, to fix it, so we could then afterwards continue our soul mission. Instead suddenly one day we couldn't make the "switch" anymore between this world and the soul world, and we got lost/trapped/crystallised in the ego. This is between 0-7 years of age. Then from 7 to puberty, we grow and develop our ego psychologically, becoming functional members of society. Then in puberty we relive the same pattern, our soul reawakens temporarily, now instead of it happening as family dynamics, it's social dynamics with our peers. Here we actually live our soul-life for a little while, but towards the end of puberty the same thing, same pattern crystallises again. Here the only 3 natural, built-in God given opportunities remaining to re-awaken are souls effortlessly are romantically, sexually, when we get children and they from 0-7 years of age naturally live as souls, when we get grandchildren or great-grandchildren, or when we experience the death of our loved ones or similar huge crisis. Apart from these natural, built-in opportunities, spiritual practice is the last avenue of actively pursuing development. If you're an enneagram type 1, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them "pink essence" or the soul quality of appreciative love. Pink, sweet, fluffy, feels like candy floss. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 4, living as your Point of Light, your atma, your individual, immortal consciousness, your soul identity. If you're an enneagram type 2, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them "golden essence" or the soul quality of precious, merging love. Golden, sweet, thick, merging and relaxing, feels like golden honey melting you. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 5, living as your inner Diamond Guidance, seeing life with precision, clarity and precision, and guiding accordingly. If you're an enneagram type 3, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them the "pearly stupa" or the soul quality of being an embodied, soulful person, effortlessly in contact with this World, yourself, other people and Being at the same time, being completely at ease, in autonomy and generating essence in this World as well as the world of Being. Contactful, personal, pearly, autonomous and at ease in your body. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 6, living as the formidabel, indomitable, unbreakable, unshakeable grey, white and brilliant citadel embodying steadfastness, discipline, solidity, protection and support. If you're an enneagram type 4, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them the "Point of light" or the true, meaningful, immortal soul-identity. It gives a sense of meaningfulness, everything is magical, and you feel completely like yourself. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 7, embodying the Diamond Dome, the mind of Being, effortlessly seeing life and Being from innumerable angles, accepting, seeing, understanding and integrating understanding of all the domains of life and Being. If you're an enneagram type 5, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them the "Diamond Guidance" or objectivity, clarity, precision and guidance. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being an 8, embodying essential strength, power and passion in this world. If you're an enneagram type 6, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them the "Citadel" or formidabel, indomitable, unshakeable and virtuous way of life feeling supported and protected by Being. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 9, embodying the boundless states of the Absolute, the living Daylight and the Divine - a feeling of absolute simplicity and normalcy, everything is okay as it is. If you're an enneagram type 7, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them the "Diamond Dome" the mind of Being, effortlessly seeing life and Being from innumerable angles, accepting, seeing, understanding and integrating understanding of all the domains of life and Being. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 1, living as pink, appreciative love. If you're an enneagram type 8, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them embodied strength, power and passion in the Body. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 2, living as precious, golden, merging love. If you're an enneagram type 9, your ego-mission is to save the family by giving them the boundless state of pure Being, the Absolute, complete normalcy, everything is ok, everything is normal. However, your soul mission in this life is actually being a 3, living effortlessly, completely at ease, in contact with yourself, people, the world and Being, as the true, soulful and essential person. Implications On Ego vs Soul Life In The East & The West No matter which path you take, you will never feel personal fulfillment with it. No standardised path is a 100% fit to your unique, individual personal soul. For instance, imagine a 4 walking the Hindu, Daoist or Buddhist path. They're desperately trying to show the world and family the importance of Being your unique, individual soul, until they can level up and instead reach the Diamond Dome of the 7, the Mind of Being. Until they've graduated from being a 4, the path will actually work directly against them - everyday they're trying to show everyone the importance of embodying your unique soul, yet they're daily practicing to renounce this magical soul and instead go to the boring Absolute. Similarly, no matter which standardised path you follow, it will never quite "fit", and your soul will never really individuate and develop and embody your full potential. For instance, just look at every single prophet or Guru that ever existed. Did any Guru ever show up and simply preach "just follow the standard paths that are already there, that is more than enough". Moses showed a new path, gave the laws. Buddha revealed a new path, rebelling against a lot of the standards going on at the time. Jesus showed a radical new path from Moses, even rebelled against "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". Muhammad also went completely against the current establisment and suffered a lot for it. If the standard paths are sufficient, why do these great messengers of Being always go against them? They even go against their family, something that's quite a shocker, as most religions preach the importance of blindly obeying and following elders. Actually all of them rebel against family, religion, society, everything. That's also why they faced so much resistance in their time and day, as lazy people just want to maintain status quo out of laziness, or simply as mindless sheep followers. So if all our great examples didn't just follow the established paths, but broke out of them to reveal something new and unique, yet very individual, just compare the teachings of these great people. Everyone was a very unique person. They might all be in contact with Being, but they filter it through their unique soul. Moses embodied patience, yet he also had quite the temperament, and punishment and judgement was a big part of his message. Buddha was all about equanimity, compassion, clearing your mind and going into the Absolute. Jesus for instance embodied love, forgiveness, peace and power. Muhammad embodied steadfastness, inner support, human tenderness, yet also a sense of worldly and practical wisdom, knowing what it took to be functional in this world with trade, wealth, politics, women, sex and war. Hard to say, but Moses was probably one of the emotional types, either 2, 3 or 4. Or could've been a steadfast 6 or an 8 with a temperament. Buddha was probably a 5 or a 9, focused on a clear, objective mind as well as normalcy, just going into the absolute, let go off the craziness of this ego world. Jesus could've been a 2, very loving and helpful, soul mission of 5 - giving clear, precise guidance. If you read some of his sayings, there's a lot of clear wisdom and understanding there about life. Muhammad was so grounded, so practical, yet so heartful as well. Could've been a 6 maybe, steadfast and enduring. Of course God knows best. My point is simply to share what I've found in my journey, namely that just following a pre-set path will probably not do it for most when you're at the final stages of dismantling the ego. My Own Journey When I was I child I was immersed in the wisdom of the prophets (Christianity & Sufism) as well as the teachings of the Gurus (Hinduism & Buddhism). When I was a teenager I immersed myself in Christianity & Yoga, until I found the Diamond Approach and Diamond Logos which I felt integrated all I knew, and gave me the tools needed to experientially and in a bodily, felt and tangible sense discover these Truths inside myself in a real, soulful and essential manner, instead of a mental, theoretical, conceptual manner. In my 20s I was overwhelmed by practical life, and felt that always focusing so much on "how I felt" was actually detrimental to my functionality, I instead needed practical tools on how to navigate work, money, becoming and officer in the army, moving away from home, moving in with my girlfriend from a completely different culture, getting my bachelor's in business and figuring out how to function in all this practically. In my late 20s I finally felt like I managed to suceed practically in this physical, material world. Got deployed 3 times with the army, rose in the ranks, got prestige, money and authority, figured out girls, sex and relationships, and felt like finally I had managed to create that practical stability and know-how I didn't have in my early 20s. Similarly I felt I "hit-home" spiritually by leaving aside for a little while the whole ego-transformation, psychology and development, and went into the dimension of the life force through Qigong and Simplified Kundalini Yoga. It was practical, it was tangible, and it gave measurable benefits to my practical life. My sleep improved, my health improved, I had boundless energy, could heal myself and others, had epic sex through sexual qigong and lovemaking, get girls, felt at one with the universe through SKY, I was content, I felt like I had found what I had struggled with for 10 years - how to be a man in this world, health, wealth, love & happiness through right living and spiritual practice with the chakras, meridians, dan tiens and life force. Then I decided it was time to settle down, get a home, get a steady and stable girl - lo and behold, none of my life force practices could navigate this new jungle that opened up. She was a traumatized refugee from the Middle East with a completely different psyche and idea of what home life should be like, and there was a political change with the army's international engagements leading to my flourishing career niche slowly drying out. Suddenly everything was lost: home was chaos, work projects were dwindling, money was evaporating from my substantial savings, my health suddenly got messed up and no herb, mantra, mudra or qigong could heal it. What happened? The Universe forced me to get back into this whole Journey of emotions and ego-transformation. I stubbornly tried to use what I felt I had mastered, what gave me stability in my 20s, but the more gurus and teachings I sought out, my old go-to for fixing myself and my life (spiritual teachings and practices), the more I felt I was so incredibly dissapointed with these gurus - they said there were at such a high level, could do everything and were God's gift to humanity, but I realized they were just egos on steroids. They were still trapped in ego, defending a self image, trying to save the family, wishing to homogenize everything and everyone and shape the world into their own personal ideal - none of them felt human. This was kind of a crisis for me - the oasis of spirituality that had nurtured and supported me and fueled my trek through the harsh desert of life suddenly started poisoning me instead. What to do? Helplessly, I reluctantly got back in the Diamond Logos and the Diamond Approach and started working with my Being, my Essence, my Ego again. Suddenly I realized I was a 6 - my early family constellation had lacked a sense of grounding, protection, stability, security and guidance. None of my parents had a father figure when they grew up, and they had me as their first child when they're were only 20. So I had spent my whole life trying to provide my family with stability by always showing up, always doing the right thing, always being a peak-performer in school, sports and the army, always being this tremendous force of support and protection for everything and everyone (in the end, that's what soldiers do, they protect others). I had grown tired of Qigong, yes it had healed me, but I was sick and tired of the teacher not showing up in a personal manner, embodying his unique self. Instead he actually shuts down everything and everyone who embodies their unique soul, hitting them figuratively with his teacher-stick, as he himself grew up in communist China in a culture that pretty much says there is no individual, it's all collective, there's the great, mysterious impersonal Dao. I was looking for protection, support and guidance outside of myself (as a 6). Similar with the Buddhist teachers, Hindu teachers, none were real, individuated, soulful people - they were egos with superpowers (healing, prediction, psychic powers etc), but they didn't know about the journey of the individual soul. After so many years of disapoointment, I realized I was looking for myself (stable, supportive, protective) outside myself. I was trying to support everyone, but no one was supporting me to be my true self. The Universe did this on purpose - just like Muhammad smashed all the idols in the Ka'aba, Almighty God, The One Being, was smashing all my false idols. Like God had taken me through mastering my body, my mind, my energy, my practical life, now it was time to level up and start mastering Being itself - starting with my Ego as a 6. My whole ego is built around the family hole of "no support", meaning all my soul qualities and essence are all built on emptiness, invisiblity, no legs, no grounding, just floating around ready to collapse at any point. This had been my blindspot for all these years, always unconsciously dodging this soul-destroying hole of "no support" and as a survival mechanism desperately supporting the people around me (family, gf etc). However the only way through the hole is to jump in it. Just sit in the unbearable pain, watch and pray as Jesus said, mindfully observe as Buddha said - just BE. Then slowly out of the hole of no support, the support of Being slowly comes. Just like Josef in Egypt when he was imprisoned unjustly by Pharaoh's wife. He just sits and waits in the hole. However, day to day the plant grows, until finally it reaches the top and he manages to get out. That's an allegory for how to deal with our soul - just BE. And Being will slowly slowly, day by day start metabolising our ego content and produce the ingredients needed to heal us. No spiritual path or teacher could've brought me through this, only myself - but the guidance of the prophets and saints and of course the Diamond Approach and Guidance helped me figure out what was going on. All those years I spent trying to save my family, fix them, my every thought, feeling and action steered and motivated by my ego-mission. Now I see that support is inside myself, my own Being supports me. It's not social, it's not from family, it's not through mirroring or merging, it's from Being itself. Only by staying with my experience, literally Being with it, not by manipulating or fixing, that's what will grow the plant in the hole, produce the elements needed to administer healing. And now I see that I was actually always stable, loyal, steadfast, enduring, patient, formidable, uncompromising with Truth, but I thought I needed to give it to others. I actually just need to give it to myself. Now I feel like myself, like when I was a child - normal, natural, supported from the inside. Now I can live what my soul came here to do, just Be. As a 9, just journey into the boundless domains of the Divine, everything is ok, no drama, all is good. I see it with my wife too. She's a 5. Whenever we see her family, she starts philosophizing and analysing how to fix them and their life. Whenever we've been away from them from a while, she just wants to live passionately in her body, dance, have nice food, enjoy and celebrate the beauty of living a juicy life as an 8. But the slightest trigger will get her back, stuck on her ego-mission as a 5 to give clarity and precision to others to save them. Me2, suddenly I can get triggered and devise a plan how to support someone through their hard time, being there for them, guiding, protecting and supporting them. But that's actually not what I'm here for - I'm here to enjoy the Absolute. Conclusion Any path you follow can only take you so far. If you're discontent as an Easterner with a Western path, or a Westerner on an Eastern path, fear not, you're not alone. Our family, cultural and religious background, our social condition, our whole psyche is set up differently from each other. The enneagram as well as knowing your ego-mission and soul-mission can help you get back on track, reconnect with why you came to this world and not get lost. God bless you