Jetsun

Good/bad, advantage/disadvantage only make sense from the perspective of ego, otherwise there is just what is. So to have that perspective means there is some degree of ego left, so not complete ego death. But from the perspective of ego having different degrees of awakening or ego death can create a whole gamut of reactions: terror, catosrophe, stress, depression, bliss, joy, peace, sense of coming home and belonging. Over time the more dramatic level out and you adjust to your new level of being. If you continue on and don't turn back then the more negative reactions are less likely to be prominent.

I think he's doing more meditation now, he used to do about 3 hours a day now he's doing 5. I guess he wants to do as much as he can before death.

I would say it is expanding, contracting and also not existing Outbreath - expand. Inbreath - retract. Pause inbetween outbreath and inbreath - void/emptiness/formless

The best method I know is to really truthfully meditate on what you honestly want, what you want from this life. If you really, truthfully want enlightenment above everything else including money, women, family, achievement, recognition, avoidance, healing, peace, then you will get it. Hardly anyone really wants it though, or they want it on their own terms. If you really want it you will do anything to get it including giving anything up and more crucially you will take enlightenment on its own terms rather than impose preconceptions on what it should look like.

Quite strange how the ego can be drawn to awakening even though it means it's dissolution, a bit like a moth to a flame, it just can't resist, or maybe there comes a point where the truth within is stronger than the ego which drives it to the flame, the ego just pretends it's still in charge. One of my teachers read that book "Wake up and roar" by Papaji and immediately started having samadhi type experiences, to the point he went to India to speak to Papaji himself to ask about it, Papaji flat out said to him that those Samadhi experiences are not it, not awakening. And thank God he did otherwise he may have been stuck at that level of seductive bliss samadhi the rest of his life.

Looks like this guy has got some interesting research and stories. The issue with awakening is that freedom can show up in any way, because it is free by definition it can't really be pinned down. In terms of psycho-physiological signals I'm not sure how that could be measured either because awakening doesn't necessarily mean increased memory, brain function or health, I personally know people who are awake whose memory is shot and in terms of regular academic brain function are worse off. There are many awakened people with severe illnesses and some who are morally suspect in their behaviour. So while I like what this guy is doing he is trying to measure the one thing which is impossible to quantify.

I thought I wanted it, but then I came to realise what I really wanted was to escape suffering using enlightenment, so it was just escapism dressed up in different clothes.... but in the process I discovered that it wants me In a sense I am not sure if us (as most of us take ourselves to be) can honestly want enlightenment, as enlightenment is the end of us and by nature we aren't suicidal, yet it could be like moths to a flame I guess

The violence has become much more graphic in recent years, programmes like Narcos and Got have amazing stories but really graphic explicit violence. People must enjoy and get off on it, seems to have got worse since the "Saw" films were so successful.

That actually happened in other areas of the UK too, wasn't just one incident https://www.channel4.com/news/oxford-abuse-operation-bullfinch-report-thames-valley-police for example Oxford was another case of a Pakistani Muslim gang systematically grooming and abusing hundreds of white English girls. Police and social services did nothing out of fears of being called racist.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161208-why-vitamin-supplements-could-kill-you Amazing article For example: "In 1994, for example, one trial followed the lives of 29,133 Finish people in their 50s. All smoked, but only some were given beta-carotene supplements. Within this group, the incidence of lung cancer increased by 16%. A similar result was found in postmenopausal women in the U.S. After 10 years of taking folic acid (a variety of B vitamin) every day their risk of breast cancer increased by 20% relative to those women who didn’t take the supplement." "A study published in 2007 from the US National Cancer Institute, for instance, found that men that took multivitamins were twice as likely to die from prostate cancer compared to those who didn’t. And in 2011, a similar study on 35,533 healthy men found that vitamin E and selenium supplementation increased prostate cancer by 17%."

A thing I heard Scott Kiloby say recently is that he has realised through his own experience and by meeting lots of students on the path is that the motivation for almost everyone on the spiritual path is avoidance. People trying to change and get away from what is. That has been my path also- mostly avoidance, yet it still led to the fundamental realisation which is basically that avoidance doesn't work. But in terms of how to, just notice that awareness already is unconditionally accepting all that is, including the bad stuff. It isn't awareness which rejects it is thoughts, mind and conditioning

The Western policy makers celebrate when every new Sunni v Shia war kicks off, as it means their dominance and position in the world is guaranteed for another generation. But all this stuff about Aleppo in the news now is 5 years too late

The book 1984 was based in the UK and it looks like it is becoming a reality. The government has used the Trump election as a cover for passing the most intrusive snooping law in history. The following departments will now have access to your full internet history... Metropolitan police force City of London police force Police forces maintained under section 2 of the Police Act 1996 Police Service of Scotland Police Service of Northern Ireland British Transport Police Ministry of Defence Police Royal Navy Police Royal Military Police Royal Air Force Police Security Service Secret Intelligence Service GCHQ Ministry of Defence Department of Health Home Office Ministry of Justice National Crime Agency HM Revenue & Customs Department for Transport Department for Work and Pensions NHS trusts and foundation trusts in England that provide ambulance services Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service Competition and Markets Authority Criminal Cases Review Commission Department for Communities in Northern Ireland Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland Department of Justice in Northern Ireland Financial Conduct Authority Fire and rescue authorities under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 Food Standards Agency Food Standards Scotland Gambling Commission Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority Health and Safety Executive Independent Police Complaints Commissioner Information Commissioner NHS Business Services Authority Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Board Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Regional Business Services Organisation Office of Communications Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Police Investigations and Review Commissioner Scottish Ambulance Service Board Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission Serious Fraud Office Welsh Ambulance Services National Health Service Trust Why work, food and health departments need to have full access to my browsing history I don't know.

Perhaps God is eroding your false ideas and conceptions about what it is through your suffering

What type of Qigong do you prescribe?

In Jin Shin Jyutsu the ring finger is associated with the lungs and intestine and the emotions of grief and sadness. Holding the fingers can help clear the channels associated with these aspects. But both fingers are considered equal in that system

How does that work. Why is that finger important?

Also apparently MP's are not included in this digital surveillance bill, surprise surprise.

I expect the next step is to ban VPN's and Tor etc, they can try justify it by saying the other laws are useless unless they are banned. I have heard they are already trying to ban some advanced forms of cryptography as basically it's too good at doing its job ie stopping others from deciphering it

Most of the genuinely highly realised beings I have discovered or met seem to have an element of devotion in their path, devotion to something outside of themselves, which maybe counters the increase in potential self egocentricity. Even the most ardent non-dualists like Ramana worshiped a mountain and Nisagadatta would sing devotional Bhajans, even though on the ultimate level they knew these things weren't seperate or outside of themselves they still continued these dual type devotional practices.

It's pretty shocking to watch, it's the kind of scenes you might expect to watch from a military dictatorship imposing itself on its people. I guess it's a corporate dictatorship, wikileaks basically showed that the banks picked Obamas cabinet and would have picked Hillarys, so maybe Trump can make a little difference in some way to turn things in another direction.

This is the truth, or rather the truth going on underneath

That is true, yet awareness can also become one with the wider awareness . Basically when awareness becomes quiet and still it stops pinging around the mind bouncing from concept to concept its real nature can be revealed, like a wave realising that its real nature is water of the entire sea.

Well a lot of the day there is a localisation of awareness, which you could call an immediate self, and there are all sorts of things existing outside of that ie the rest of the world. Yet that immediate self in one sense is a functional illusion because you can't actually find anything you can put a flag on and say it is this Self, plus during certain times of the day such as meditation the sense of it isn't always there and a self can't be found distinct from the world, plus the localised awareness can go beyond the bodymind. So it is like the analogy of the wave and the ocean, you could say each wave is unique, yet it doesn't exist separate from the ocean and ultimately it's all water. Similarly even though your expression is unique a self can't be found as seperate from the wider universe and it's ultimate substance can't be discovered as distinct from anything else. So Karl when you do your favourite enquiry "where am I?" what do you find? Do you find a self in your body? If so do you lose part of it if you lose a limb? Do you find a self in the thoughts, which can change at any moment and are influenced by all sorts of things outside of the mind.

Well I have to use convention language or there is no communication, but yeah the I won't realise anything yet there is still realisation it just isn't done by you. Without the experience it is pretty much impossible to get or understand this because the ego can't comprehend anything exists beyond its own domain.