Seth Ananda

Thanks Pietro, that was great. It has some interesting political ramifications: Take their Freedom but keep them entertained and happy. I Love your mention of the 99% thing. I try to really live by that one. Seth

Dan Tien Death Star!

Have you seen a man eat his own head? Having worked in the Tantric field for the last 14 years I can say that that perineum statement is one of the silliest statements I have read. I have personally taught a number of men to overcome Premature problems with perineum exersizes and a few other things. Thats not at all to say that the Anal locks are no good, on the contrary. Seth P.S. It looks like some Swedish torture device

Some of the 'fights' in his later stuff are a bit better to watch but I am still a bruce fan. His students are a bit floppy but as another thread here mentioned, he used to hurt his students alot, in the earlier days. I once trained with a teacher who was a bit too 'Gung Ho' and it made it really hard to Attack him with confidence. a passer bye would probably have said we looked gay too. but no, just afraid Seth

Hi unconditioned, I''d agree with djs that (at least if its systema we are talking about) the goal of all these things is to build confidence and to overcome fear. Systema has a lot of focus on overcoming fear - from being choked and grappled while other students are pushing, punching and kicking you, and your only practice is to try and stay calm and maintain proper breathing, to things like the knife drop in the vid, or broken glass push ups. Wudangquan the punching is very 'Soft' like some IMA. no muscular strength involved but alot of 'sink' power as in it doesnt hit the target as much as 'sink' through the target. Ouch. Shon, I'd love to see that vid if you can find it, there does seem to be freerunning like elements in Systema as ive noticed before And its true that Mickhail Ryabko is deeply religious and views His Systema practice as an extension of his religious practice. He has even built a private little chapel for himself at the back of his house, for his religious practice in solitude. I dont know if then all high level Systema is focused on the Russian Orthodox faith, I don't think so but he is one of the main teachers, and he may teach it that way. Did anyone See a special on Russian Supermen years ago where one guy put a transparent plastic bag over his head and then submerged himself in boiling water for 19 mins, with his head under fully. The reporter burnt herself when she went to touch the water he was in? I want to see that footage again. Spectacular. Seth Ananda

From what I know the Spetsnaz's martial art is Systema or at least the two main teachers, Vlad and Mickhail, are both Spetsnaz or ex-spetsnaz in Vlad's case. Systema is an intriguing martial art. It is said by some (unverified) that during the Russian/Chinese communist era, China sent many of its martial experts to Russia, and vice versa, to help train each others super soldiers. So it shares some interesting things in common with eastern M.A. It would anyway I guess considering Russia's proximity to Mongolia and China, But It has definitely retained its own unique flavor. I practice Yang Mian, and the similarities are amazing. Where one lacks something the other fills in, and in training both they only seem to complement each other. Seth.

Good article. I read Bill sometimes, have a few of his books and will slowly get more but I read him only occasionally as his writing style pisses me off sometimes. He is so black and white on some issues, and so clear on others. But this one is great - and an important subject Seth

Here in this very body Are the sacred rivers Here is the sun and the moon and all the pilgrimage places. I have never found a Temple as Blissful as my own body. Saraha (if i remembered it right and if i didn't then, Saraha/Seth ) "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" J Krishnamurti. "If the universe is utterly mechanistic, then it is highly Improbable that we are living in a mechanistic universe" - Johnstones Paradox. Ramsey Dukes. "Groovy!" Evil dead. Great thread Seth

I know one guy that has done over 30, 10 day vipassana retreats as well as a couple of the extended ones, 40 days I think, as well as served at many, and he is a terrible counselor. Seth Ananda.

Phoenix Institute. Its well known all around the world (in transpersonal psych circles) for its courses and has a very good reputation for this sort of thing. Costs about 10 grand (AUD) Seth Ananda

I Loved doing Transpersonal Counselling at a School Like this. Awesome, healing, and highly practical. Most of the students were Psyche graduates already working in the field as psychologists and councilors and most were blown away at the effectiveness of the processes. A number said it completely transformed their work Lives as they had always felt drained after listening to peoples problems all day, and after learning the Transpersonal perspectives found the work with each client Exhilarating. Also many said that they had feared they were not really helping anyone much with anything deep until they came to a course like this and learned some of this usless new age stuff I would like to know what the amazing truth 'is' that psychologists supposedly have after doing all that hard work? To me, if a study of the human system doesn't Include an understanding of the Spiritual how can it Offer much of value? It makes it just more Mainstream indoctrination into meaningless scientific materialism. Just my point of view. And I don't think it matters if the mainstream only considers it a pseudo-degree work wise, as this field is becoming more and more popular and you can do very well for yourself in this career. Have fun if you go there ddilulo. Seth Ananda Just now seeing durkrhods price analysis I think you maybe able to find a much cheaper course offering similar stuff. I might add just doing Vippassna wont make you a good therapist

Thanks everyone so far I am still looking forward to hearing more if there is more from anyone. I will read his stuff that I can and will try and learn chinese one day but am trying to learn Sanskrit at the moment. and thats enough . Seth Ananda

I'm just reading some articles about Obama at Hermes press which are a bit disappointing. What do you Think? http://www.hermes-press.com/obama2a.htm http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pham150708.html http://www.hermes-press.com/obama3.htm Im still glad Bush is gone. Seth Ananda

Not too big of a conspiracy nut hey? Don't worry I am, and I think that is a very interesting point. If that is a 'real' secret agenda, Obama would definitely be the man to lead us in. But I hope thats not the case. I hope he has just played the game as much as he had to to get himself here where he can make some real changes... Everyone deserves Health care though. just my opinion, I like people. Seth Ananda

I'm with Stig, most of the Aussies here are Very happy about Obama. For one he Looks like a Human Being and not a robot and you can feel his ability to feel, and his sense of compassion. I am not calling Him a Buddha or anything, just more of a real person than the alternatives. It matters Hugely for the rest of the world who sits in the chair of the American president so you are voting for the entire planet not just for the U.S. The economic system is going down no matter what, and as it does I think its more important to have a human with even a mild sense of ethics than a money grabbing robot at the wheel. Seth Ananda.

Once again in Laymans terms please? Eg: Eat more... Have less... Bananas are Awsome.... pot roast is for Muggles... I Love your brains Actually are brains good? What about the pineal? Seth Ananda

Ok. 1 more (and last) This is getting ridiculous. You said you have never heard of Magick getting results in the real world which is B.S. as I just told you that It works for me, and you obviously haven't looked very far. Go to any number of forums and read. they are not sitting there asking each other if anyone has ever seen anything real actually happen. They are talking about the REAL RESULTS they are getting, or their failures and asking for advice on how to improve their technique witch is a never ending process of growth. And which real world are you talking about? the Scientific Materialist one? Some people have demonstrated their Talents publicly and you can usually consider their path a cautionary tale. You Keep missing my point that Magick is spontaneous. When you Need or really want something the charge is there and the magic will work but thats no guarantee that it will work once the charge has gone (a second time) Also The most important principle of making Magick work is forgetting about it after the ritual. A usefull analogy is Letting go of the ball, so it can follow your will. This means that you can not do results Magick with some member of the Scientific Priesthood there who is waiting to see the results, as while he is there the results will never happen. Score One for the Irrational! Yeah If you want to ask how Magick works, outside of hollowing out mountains and hordes of undead slaves, and other Hollywood drivel as well as the useless pop culture teenage witch stuff, I am more than Happy to share my views and Experiences, but otherwise I really am pulling out now and leaving this thread to the Goddess Discussion. The Rational is only half the story. Magick doesn't follow any neat set of rules. Things I have done in the real world with Magick: Made rain in a drought many times. Brought hard needed Cash many times... Aquired all kinds of Items... Knocked over some people without touch Cursed an enemy (back in the old days) with devastating results in all areas of his life. Redirected the Attention of the Authorities many times. Helped heal many people of diseases, including one man of HIV. All his many previous tests were declared a remarkable case of repeated miss-diagnosis. Read minds and varified it. Had ongoing telepathic exchanges with various people, and later we would confirm the conversations. All this is still far less Interesting to me than the Internal changes and subtler stuff. So either I am lying, deluded, unstable, or Stupid... Or maby I am Telling the truth as best I can about something Real. Peace. Seth Ananda Seth Ananda

Ahh, I would tend to agree that symbols and rituals dont have any Intrinsic power on there own, after all the symbols are out there and are doing nothing with out us. Which makes Us the key Factor. That is why it is so important to find systems that 'feel' meaningful or that suit your temprament and use those. for instance I use some Kabbalah in my Magic because of my judeo/christian up bringing and It sits right to a certain extent. I never for a moment believe that it has any special properties that I don't give it, but this brings up some interesting questions. If I were Jewish I would probably stick solely to Kabbalah as my entire religion would be invested in it, just as a Tibetan monk chants Tibetan mantras to Tibetan deities as they feel special to him or her. That feeling of Sacredness is very important. But are there Echoes of all the past Associations attached to Symbols/Rituals/Deities? I tend to think so but who knows. Jung was astounded to find complex alchemical and other symbols coming up again and again from patients in depth therapy as these Alive and meaningful realities deep in their unconscious. That led him to formulate his theory of the collective unconscious and it's non local and shared reality. If you have no experience of this world yet I suggest you spend some time getting more associated with your right brain. I too have been astounded at seeing what effects a symbol can have on my or others minds in my work with Trance states and therapy and Magick. I was part of a group that sometimes invent a new God and then create its sacred rituals, and then carry them out and it is really amazing. But then again, Nothing compares with my meetings with Kali. its completely irrational but I have no choice than to see her as my Mother and She completely overwhelms me, even when I think I don't believe in Her. Maby thats just me or maby thats because She is one of the oldest Goddesses in existence and still has a couple of million worshipers. Test that in a lab. As for my Anecdotal 'proof' Magick works for me, over and over again through ever strange and wondrous avenues that just could not be tested in a lab. My Life is Awesome and so fulfilling I can hardly handle it sometimes in the periods I have stopped Magick everything goes back to normal. All the proof I need. I wont bother debating any further as you will never Know till you give it some Honest attempts and I am more than satisfied with what it has done for me so I feel happy to sit back and laugh as people claim its non existence. Love and Play Seth Ananda "Hey you damn lazy undead! Fetch me my slippers!"

This just does not compare with my Dantien Death Star technique! Beware all False teachings. Give your money over to the True Path. Dantien Deathstar!

Thought Id add quickly, that you don't want Faith or belief in Magick. Its better that way. Occasionally you choose to deliberately believe something for a short period to add power, but if you are doing results Magick dont bother. It is just a standard formula and requires nothing but a wilingness to try it. To any other practitioners, that is just the way I see it. Have Fun! Seth Ananda Thanks Silicon. I think this Empirical/Anecdotal debate is one of the most important issues on the planet right now. Seth Ananda

Fair enough. But I would like to say again there is plenty of evidence for the brain state change that happens during Ritual. Swami Rama also baffled the havard medical team controlling his body heat, pain sensing, heart and blood movement using just strongly visualized Symbols from the Tattva symbols. (I think it was Havard, its a long time since my Psych text books) So what Kind of 'Proof do you want? Empirical or Anecdotal? Skeptics today Hide behind a wall of Empirical data from an ever increasing tidlewave of Anecdotal evidence. If you ever had a psychic episode where you suddenly had access to information not normally available to you or you did something that you just 'can't' do in 'reality' then all a skeptic has to do is scream "Anecdotal Evidence!" and that is it for them. they never have to think about it again. And when (in one poll) 85% of people claim to have had a supernatural experience (of any kind) they can still just shout their Saftey Mantra, "Anecdotal Evidence". A position which is highly insulting as it only leaves open 3 categories for the experiencer. that of : 'Nuff Nuff - a below standard intelligence person. or a Lying fraud with something to gain.. Or just plainly wrong, mistaken or coincidental. It doesn't matter how Impossible what happened was, its still just anecdotal evidence. Not all Subjects give up there secrets in a laboratory, and yes it is closed minded to demand that kind of Proof. Magick deals far more in spontaneity and once off effects as you generally dont need to make something happen again once you have had your success. and Empirical testing demands that it all happen in the Controlled lab, over and over again, under an 'Aura' of scientific disbelief. All completely antithical to the environment needed to make Magick happen. How can you Prove a child's past life memory in a lab? the anecdotal evidence is piled up so high it amazes me intelligent people can still deny it. I'm with you on the 'new agey' magick but even that can trigger something sometimes and that may inspire someone to look a bit deeper for the real stuff. What about the McDonalds Logo and Nike and... If symbol systems had no power Advertizing wound be the second biggest industry on the planet. There are (yes, empirical )studies where they have hooked up someones brain and showed them different corporate logo's and low and behold, Mcdonalds triggers the hunger response... Sounds like magick to me. Seth Ananda.

NO But I will ask you to reread the why I do Magick bit in my last post. Its not to become a kungfu genius or to damage someones car door with my eating utensil. Narrow mindedness does not become you. Leave Alone the 'Prove it' mentality. It can never be proved enough. for every demonstration there will be a hundred more Skeptics lining up to disprove it. Also there is a vast amount of brainwave study available on trance and ritual effects done if you are really interested. Psychologists have studied Shaman, mediums, channelers and Magicians. Seth Ananda.

we have had this conversation before. Mwight Sounds like you know a couple of dead beats. unfortunately I too know far too many people who fall into this category. I know one guy who has by far the biggest Occult library i have ever seen, all bought for him by his parents, and stored where he lives, in their Attic. He is covered in 'magical' tattoos, has absolutely no people skill and is on anti depressants. and there are probably thousands+ like him or worse. Same goes for wanna be Taoists, Tantrics, Martial artists, Shaman, muggles, atheists, fashion victims, potheads, blah blah blah. there are millions of mal-adapted people living in their parents basements, simply accepting whatever belief system is most comfortable for them to accept. that doesn't make everyone in their chosen field in their category. What I have learnt from Magick is that if you want the real stuff you have to dig for it, and go 110%, and you have to really live it. Which doesnt mean just reading shlock like ted andrews and wearing a purple velvet robe around like most of the fat pagans out there. As for Enlightenment cant say, ain't there yet. What about all the ancient lama's who sat around all day in deep meditation and never got there. Wasted lives? they never even had any fun... Most systems will agree that a 'prerequisite' for enlightenment is the breaking down the Ego structures. Magick can be Superb for achieving this as you can regularly completely change your sense of self, thus slowly realizing the ego's dream like nature. For me Magick is the perfect adjunct for my Spiritual path. And it Rocks! Occasionally someone asks me why I practice Magick and I find it really hard to answer. I can say "Oh, it help me change things, or create things..." but that just doesn't really cut it for me. How can I convey the feeling of Directly interacting with the Conscious Living Universe - The intense Joy of being in reciprocal relationship with all of life - The constant deepening sense that it is all just a grand play of Consciousness - The complete Mystical breakthrough that a good ritual can deliver - The full opening of ones feeling capacity to everything in existence... Most people seem dead and grey to me. I cant believe how shut down humans are to everything, and how little Magick they have in their lives, mainly because of Fascist patriarchal religions telling everyone that they have the only true and sanctioned way to reality. I just feel a great compassion for them. Because of Magick. In my Tantric Tradition I guess you could say that Magick is on the Shakti/Energy/Immanent side of reality and Meditation is on the Shiva/Consciousness/Transcendent side and also that you cant separate Shiva from Shakti, or Spirit from Creation. Its all one and magick is our birth right. In Joy and Love Seth Ananda

I love Zeitgeist, but on the Jesus Issue, as to whether he really existed or not who knows. I tend to think not, looking at things but as I go back and forward between the Christian sites refuting this theory and the sites promoting it my head starts to hurt. It seems both sides really want to be right and stretch the 'facts' resulting in endless refuting. I think at the least he may have been a figure that had all that myth 'cut n pasted' on top of his actual existence. Still looking though... I have to admit, I would love for someone to be able to prove he didn't exist. -One nature denying monotheistic religion down, a few to go... Awesome. Seth Ananda