Elysium

34 minutes ago, snowymountains said:

The "layers of heaven" part is very interesting, if you get a chance to write here or in a separate topic.

Ever read Dantes Paradiso/Inferno? The sevenfold concept is pretty similar.

 

While there are other opinions, most agree there are seven layers to heaven/paradise/jannah. After one dies, one goes through judgement, and gets to one of layers in Jannah or Jahannam. This is why you would essentially only need to do your duties Allah gave you, and be a good person overall. You should be getting to Jannah sooner or later.

 

In a way there is no need trying to "transcend" in Islam because death will take you there no matter what.

 

To expand a little however:

 

There are three types of worshippers. First ones worship him because they are scared of the eternal punishment. The second type worhips because they want to get to heaven. Allah loves the third ones most however, because, to quote a famous poet:

 

What they call the heaven is

Just a few mansions and a few houris

Give them to the ones who want those

I need you, only you.

 

The third ones are devoted to him because they love him and can't think of else. These are called "friends of Allah/Awliya". If we are looking for transcendence or siddhi, which would be called Karamah, its better to start looking here. But I am diverting.

 

Last but not least, the seven heavens are said to be just a ring that is in a desert, compared to the desert that would be "Arsh". Arsh means throne. Nobody really knows what Arsh truly is, and in Islam I am sure nobody aside from perhaps the last prophet saw it in Miraj. Miraj is a famous event, Muhammad ascends to heavens one by one, and communicates with Allah directly at the end.

 

In fact, archangel Jibril/Gabriel who travels with Muhammad can not cross a certain point, saying that his wings would burn if he would try to breach this point.

 

My interpretations: Jibril means messenger, which is an allegory to mind. Muhammad has to perhaps let go or transcend his mind in order to go this further/deeper/subtler place/plane of existence. For Arsh, which I said it meant throne, I believe its the concept of Allahs dominance over everything.

 

So it goes on like this: Allah exists, none else (its kind of a nothingness here)---> The concept of his supremeness is created---> Everything else is created. For a similar concept you may read about Jewish tree of life, especially the negative veils of existence.

 

TL;DR: Penguins are taking over the world.

 

 

@idiot_stimpy Enjoying the commentary I won't lie, hope you keep it up. 

 

Day 6 of Richard Hittlemans Yoga, I am not liking the new excersises I won't lie. They aren't giving me the stretches the earlier days did.

 

While I didn't make much of a quantifiable progress on my concentration workings, quality of them was much better than yesterday. It didn't feel like a chore first and foremost. There were no mental commentaries either, just earworms.

 

I am noticing an increasing amount of stillness on my Zhan Zhuang practice. I will look at some videos to see if I am getting it right.

 

Edit: Half Lotus is just excellent, keeps spine straight like no other. I wonder how Full Lotus is like.

1 hour ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

 

@Elysium might be able to talk about this!
 

I wrote a somewhat two hour long essay here that included concept of awliya/sainthood in Islam, layers of heaven, Wahdat-al Wujood, how important your intent is, list goes on, and then it said "show new reply" and then when I clicked that my response vanished. 😭

 

So yeah, not doing that again, but will still link a system that I really like and would have used myself if I was still a muslim.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lataif-e-Sitta

 

Zikr is used to work on these Lataif. For more info:

 

http://maktabah.org/blog/?p=227

 

Without a shaykhs guidance, its gonna be either ineffective or downright hazardous just like some of the eastern practices.

 

And for the sainthood I was refering to:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wali

 

Are you refering to the daily prayer or is it to prayer to Muhammad when you say Salat?

The above comment is hillarious to me not because it is wrong but I was just about to write the same observation here.

 

First of all, I have done the daily excersises. They are fruitless today, I feel devoid of life, just not enough that I didn't keep practicing.

 

5 mins of Zhan Zhuang (for the first time, I was very still during it) as usual, day 5 of Richard Hittlemans yoga. Today there were no stretches but the half lotus pose. It wasn't that hard but not sure if I could say it so cocky if I tried to stay in it for 10 mins.

 

As for concentration; this seriously is gonna be a gargantuan task. Today my mind is pulling every trick it can think of:

 

1 - When I concentrate, mind is loudly observing the event as if I am just journaling it. I try my hardest to shut it off. Sometimes it works, but it doesn't feel genuine. Maybe I am attached to this journal in a way now?

 

2 - The more I am chasing this goal, faster it runs away. I have to stop running and enjoy the road ahaed of me but how? Good question. I seriously want this goal done.

 

These two points seem to give me a clue as Corpus Hermeticum points out: Desire is death.

Okay okay, what do I want currently? Health, piece of mind, and increased concentration, right?

 

For concentration I just sit cross legged and either looking at the clock or just trying getting a void of mind eyes closed.

 

Meditating eyes open or closed; two entire different worlds for me. When I am watching the clock I have to breathe rapidly to shut off mind, this feels faux. Right now I am at 40 seconds. Eyes closed, well, not every day is the same, but there are moments of no thought/they are so far back in my mind I can't hear them. Longetivity of this is 2-3 minutes so far. Surface level but not so bad in this world where everything is designed for short attention spans.

 

For health, just some calisthenics and first practice from Way of Energy. Its perplexing to me how relaxing just standing there is. Both relaxing and refreshing, and I am sure I can't even do it right, lol.

 

I will just keep at these two. No need to monkey around when these two clearly works and will benefit me. Already done the daily practice for them.

5 minutes ago, -ꦥꦏ꧀ ꦱꦠꦿꦶꦪꦺꦴ- said:

Yes, find a practice and stick with it for a while. If you don’t like it after a few months, you can always try something else. Is there any that has got your interest?

Now I am feeling like I hijacked the thread, just waiting that PPD approval so I can talk about these all day every day, lol.

 

I am only doing the first standing that is shown in "The Way of Energy" and I will keep doing that for a while. That and simply meditation for building concentration.

Some days I can't help myself but read on this forum for hours, haven't felt this kind of childlike wonder since my teenage years. 

 

I can see how it can turn into a nasty block on the road, though. Jumping from one read to another, it could make me very detached, and also jumpy for a lack of better word, so I promised myself to just stick with one practice only. Otherwise I won't even qualify as a jack of all trades, I think.

2 hours ago, Keith108 said:

I did offer a perspective. I was basically called a dogma spewing fundamentalist. Again, no snide-ness. Just confusion. It feels like if the thread were titled "Let's talk about baseball." And then a discussion about cabinet making ensued

I will take your word for it then. No hard feelings I hope 

35 minutes ago, Keith108 said:

Couldn't agree more, Mark. This is a very bizarre discussion of Buddhism. Or at least, a very different one. 

_/|\_

Offer some perspective instead of snide remarks in umbrealla of hand sign emojis perhaps then?

May I get a PPD section? 

4 minutes ago, snowymountains said:

In terms of a quick read ( but imo don't do this work alone, at best it simply won't be done properly), though I haven't read the book myself, I've heard good things about "Johnson's

Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche" - no clue if that book discusses it in terms of dreamwork or other methods.

Seems like we found a motivation for therapy/psychologist already . I was just looking for something to read and now I have that. Much appreciated.

1 hour ago, snowymountains said:

Honesty at the conscious level is good but not sufficient.

Most people at the conscious level want to be good actually, more often than not, it's their unconscious that acts differently.

 

The difficulty is recognising and accepting what's unconscious as it's not always pretty.

 

Eg when people first "meet" their shadow self they're like, no way this thing is part of me.

The shadow is by definition the nasty part of our Psyche.

If this work is done through dreamwork, they literally do meet their shadow, in a dream ofc.

This is very interesting indeed, may I get a short source so I don't have to walk through sands of time (being endless writings of Jung)?

On 20.12.2023 at 3:05 PM, wandelaar said:

The Dao Bums is a great place for learning to respectfully disagree.

I have noticed this too, in the short time I have been here. People show lots of restaint in general and are willing to listen what the other side says.

3 hours ago, snowymountains said:

A kensho is not enlightenment, it's a step in that direction, so it's a progress signpost.

There's a series/progression of kensho people go through as they evolve in their practice.

It's good that you take a grounded approach to it.

Though it certainly is a mark of progress, don't discount it either

The way I see it, one wrong step, and I may find myself in a problem that I can't untangle. Been reading about dangers of the practice, and it sure seems like you don't know it until its too late. Sure not all mistakes are fatal.

 

The point still stands however, so when I see big claims, I am skeptical of it.

 

Yeah we discussed therapy and I agree with you and other members pointed out that this doesn't require it. But its on back of my mind now and I think it will be a great invesment, alongside finding a proper teacher. Just need this college to get over with.

 

Until then I suppose I will enjoy this blessing, why not right? 

5 hours ago, snowymountains said:

What you describe sounds like what is called kensho in the Zen tradition.

 

These are sudden/spontaneous experiences which may happen while reading texts or hearing a recitation, or just watching something

I was suspecting it was related to what I was reading. How bizarre, it sounds like a shortcut, does it not? Maybe I should broaden my world view. I certainly did not think this was possible.

 

5 hours ago, snowymountains said:

Eg is the experience stressing you? ( sounds like no ), does the experience show any potential signs of a mental disorder, eg psychosis? ( sounds like no ).

I would say I am somewhat happy without any external influence in my life, ever after these events. You are right, answer is a hard no.

 

6 hours ago, snowymountains said:

A friend used to say, the problem with this job (he's a therapist) is, those who do need therapy don't do it and instead take shortcuts, while those who don't need it, come to do therapy 😁

( Ok he was exaggerating but sometimes it's true )

 

I mention his joke because it's a very different thing for someone eg to suppress emotions with Samatha meditation, subconsciously avoiding therapy, and a different thing to have a spiritual experience, which tbh also sounds exclusively positive and psychosis-free.

Does the later need therapy?

 

 

Its a fair question. There are many things I should go see a therapist for but I suppose these two wouldn't be main topics anymore.

 

 

48 minutes ago, ChiDragon said:

You have become enlightened. I have the same experience as you have after studying the Tao Te Jing

Okay I know I just said that I shouldn't be so narrow minded but me? Enlightened? If this is enlightenment I suppose everyone already is.

Hi all, though I feel like a psychologist would be better to ask this, going to ask here anyways.

 

In december of last year, while I was reading Corpus Hermeticum, in all of a sudden I felt that all resentment and hatred I felt towards anything and mostly myself just leaking out of me. Thats how I could define this moment. Something leaking out of me, my heart & chest feeling a kind of healing pain, and as if a truck got lifted off my shoulders after all said and done.

 

I was only doing a half-assed attempt in soul mirrors by Initiation Into Hermetics, also the void of mind excersise from same book at the time. I haven't put any meaningful effort into it.

 

Back to three days ago, I have noticed my fear of heights which stemmed from me jumping from the second floor on a single leg like a dumbass, is highly diminshed if not gone.

 

Currently I have only added 5 mins of Zhan Zhuang into what I practice so I am pretty sure it isn't related.

 

The question is, since I am not doing much, why did this two persistent treats that I have had more than a decade just vanished overnight? Any ideas?

7 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

master is fine, mistress makes it sound like I'm going to wear leather and have a whip..... so lets stick to master ;-)

Heard it grounds your jing though!

3 minutes ago, Maddie said:

I think he would definitely be a cautionary example about doing things on your own.

Sure is, between this guy, the one that wants to tank a nuke and the one that called himself master and then called everyone demonic.

 

I won't drag the thread no more but I am glad OP is gone.

Gotta say, as someone who can't find a teacher right at the moment, I am kinda worried.

 

Last thing I want to end up is like OP. Seems like all that energy messed with his head.

 

Or he was messed up to begin with.

 

Is this the fate of all solo practitioners?

Joking aside, so, you posted something like 6 threads talking about this über technique that blew every tested method ever invented, claiming that it was safe (aside from that demons part) because your friend remote viewed it.

 

Now its absolutely dangerous because your friend remote viewed it again? You certainly didn't care when people repeatedly told you so.

 

So do you not see the problem here?

You changed your mind in a week? This has to be the best anime redemtion arc.

1 hour ago, Mana conduit said:

No demons will come I exaggerated 

How could you do this, master? 😔

Kind folk, thank you for all replies and greetings.

 

I have been looking around the forum for the last couple of days, there is SO much to unpack, wow.

 

Zhan Zhuang seemed good. I picked up "The Way of Energy". Also picked up "Richard Hittlemans Yoga". That one is for stretching. And doing calisthenics now.

 

I do not know how to quote people yet, sorry 😅 But I have read all of you. I am not in İstanbul, and I actually may pick up a Martial Art, it matches quite nice with the current goals I have. Again, many thanks you guys. 

 

Hi all, greetings from Turkey.

 

I want to practice for my health, piece of mind, and strength. There is unfortunately, no place that offers practice in my city whatsoever.

 

So I will be doing it on my own but I am a bit clueless on the subject. Where do I start without falling into a rabbit hole?

 

Thank you in advance guys.