DreamBliss

This is what I am experiencing. I am in a town that is predominantly Christian, and everyone I live with is Christian. There are something like half a dozen churches within 2 miles of my home, and more scattered around town. The only alternative faith I have is Christian Science. I think there is a monastery of some sort probably 10 miles away, so well outside walking or biking distance. We have to adopt the Christian solution. When Christians don't have a church to go and meet at, they meet at someone's home. So we of alternative spirituality should start home meetings. Because one thing all religious institutions have figured out - we need fellowship with like-minded people. People who share our faith, or interests, or whatever. We need that social outlet. The problem with heeding our own counsel is that we only get one point of view. We need that environment where we can go, feel supported, and have multiple points of view. We need physical contact, hugs and hand shaking. Forums are nice, but we define reality by our senses, we can't help but do this naturally, so a place like this isn't as real to us as going somewhere and being physically around others. And heck, if you are a horny or lonely guy or girl, but you don't like to bar hop and party, how are you going to meet someone of the opposite sex? Nothing sucks worse than a one-sided relationship, you and some image or name on your computer screen, and sex is decidedly unfullfilling. So yeah, we need to start some home groups. Maybe we could start a thread for this? Moderators? What do you think? Keep the personal location information out, post the state and city you are located in if you want to start a home meeting, and let others who want to meet in that area PM the original poster or something. This something we can do? I'm in Camas, WA, in case there are any other Camas residents around here...

This is something I wanted to share from my blog. The original post is here: http://adifferentpath.blog.com/2014/04/13/apparent-reality-vs-reality/ I am reading Adyashanti’s “Falling Into Grace” and at first this text was really speaking to me. But then the author started talking about “accepting what is” and how some things are “immovable and unchangeable.” I disagree, 100%, with this belief. I can easily demonstrate why. All around me are walls and windows. Someone like Adyashanti may say that the reality is that these objects are solid. You can’t go through a closed window or a wall. That is reality. But this is a false statement. There is another reality, that the windows and the walls are made of particles and space. That these particles vibrate at a certain frequency, and this is the same frequency my physical form vibrates at. As a result my hand won’t go through a wall because of this vibration. But there is also yet another reality, that I can affect my body with my mind, so if I could affect the vibrational rate of my body, then I could, theoretically, walk right through a wall or a closed window. All these “realities” are really only “apparent realities.” Accepting the “reality” of the solidity of closed windows and walls is not really accepting reality. It is accepting a belief about reality. That such things are solid. In truth nothing is immovable or unchangeable, or else it would be perfect. Another author said it best, something along the lines of, “It is only real if it never changes.” I think it is as foolish to accept an unwanted apparent reality as it would be to fight against it. In fighting what appears to be real we are, in essence, giving it power over us. We are making it more real for us. But in accepting it as real we give it the same power. We never challenge it. By letting things be as they are we are essentially saying that is is OK for these things to be the way they are, when maybe it is not OK. If we are going to accept, admit and allow we should accept, admit and allow everything, including when something is not OK. A Buddhist monk who sits there as someone prepares to shoot them or cut them in half with a sword because that is the reality of the situation is foolish. They are not giving value to either their life or the life of the one about to perpetuate the act, as every action has a consequence, and murder has a consequence in the life of someone who commits it. The monk should defend themselves or run off. Because it is only an apparent reality that they are about to be killed. As they aren’t dead yet, it is not real. They have just as much chance to escape, or win their freedom, as they do of being killed. The apparent reality in our American cities is that here are many homeless people. It is foolish for us to simply accept that and say, “Oh well, that’s just how things are.” No, the truth is that this is how you believe things are, and how other people in society believe things are, but this is not the reality, only a collective belief in an apparent reality. Going out there to feed and clothe the homeless also enforces the apparent reality of homelessness. Because the energy of service draws more service to it, so in truth you create more homelessness by serving the homeless. Also fighting against homeless, trying to remove them from the streets, will only give the apparent reality of homelessness more power. I think what we have to do here, in this example, is accept the apparent reality of homeless, but not in any way invests belief energy into this state. We acknowledge it appears to be real, that homeless people have come into our sphere of awareness. Then I think the next step is to look inside ourselves. What is being reflected to us outside is showing us something wrong inside, inside each of us individually and inside society collectively. Addressing whatever it is that is allowing homelessness to appear is how to address the issue of homelessness. Our beliefs about apparent reality that we actually believe are reality, our beliefs about society, our beliefs about the individual’s place in society – these are where the issue of homelessness has been given birth, and until we address this, no matter how much we serve the homeless or throw them off our street homelessness will continue to appear. It points to a flaw in society itself. Exactly as sap coming from a sawn limb points to an injury in the tree, or blood coming form a wound points to an injury in the body. In the case of our Buddhist monk, an even better tactic of non-resistance is to not even resist the bullet or sword blade! Really! The only way a bullet can pierce or a sword blade can cut is because of our beliefs in what bullets and sword blades can do. These beliefs are reflected in our bodies. We believe the bullet can hurt us, we believe the sword blade can hurt us, so these things can hurt us. But remember, this us apparent reality. It seems to be enforced by all we know about the world around us. But it is not true reality. In truth the monk can make his body non-resistant to bullets and blades, so that both would simply pass through, leaving them unaffected. It only requires mental training of the ability to use one’s mind to change the vibrational state of the body. Monks are already most of the way there. They have exceptional mental clarity. In some cases they have exceptional body control. This is just the next step in the natural progress of their training. It is not about defying reality. It is about defying apparent reality. This is done without any kind of seeking, including the seeking of control, and any kind of struggling. You accept what appears to be real, but you also know, with every fiber of your being, that it is only apparently real, that it is not necessarily what is truly real. You become non-resistant to apparent reality, but in this acceptance and non-resistance you still challenge it. You test it. You ask, is this really real, or is it only apparently real? Do I really know for sure that I can’t walk through this wall or allow the blade to go through me? You can’t honestly say you know this for sure. You can’t honestly say that you have learned everything you need to learn to walk through a wall or allow a blade to pass through you. You can’t honestly say you know everything you need to know. You can’t honestly say you have tried everything there is to try. You can’t honestly say you are no longer investing belief energy into apparent reality somewhere. You may still have deeply ingrained beliefs about apparent reality from society, your family or your culture. An example is needed here, and we will use the Bible, which may be a fable, or may be false, but for now we will assume that all accounts are true and that there is hidden ,meaning we may not have uncovered yet. Jesus stepped out of a boat and onto the surface of lake or sea, during a storm. He walked on water! The apparent reality is that water is not solid, that you will sink, and when one of his disciples tried it, they started to sink. For a moment they stood on the water as they forgot apparent reality, seeing Jesus out there, walking around, but then their beliefs about apparent reality, literally, began to sink in! But Jesus invested no energy in apparent reality. He did not fight the water or the waves. He probably did not fight opposing beliefs. He probably accepted everything, allowed everything, but invested no energy at all into apparent reality. So he stepped out and walked on water. If Jesus could walk on water, we can too. We can walk through walls and let blades pass through us. We simply have to invest our belief energy into knowing, having faith, we can, rather than in the apparent reality that we can’t. Everything Jesus did, everything Buddha did, we can do, and more, without exception. We are limited only by our beliefs. Our thoughts do affect reality, but not directly. First we have a thought, then we choose to believe in that thought or not, then if we have chosen to believe in it the thought it affects our perception of reality. Jesus probably had a thought such as, “water is not solid, you can’t walk on that, everyone knows that!” but he chose not to believe in it. He chose another thought, probably something like, “Through my father I can do anything, even walk on water.” He believed that thought and stepped out, knowing that the water was a surface he could walk on, and as a result he was able to walk on water. It was not a miracle. It was just a different thought, belief and perception. A teacher like Adyashanti seems to be saying, unless I am misunderstanding him, that we are powerless. That there are things we can’t change, that we can’t control. I say that is absolute bullshit. I say that seeking to control and change things will lead to suffering, same as any seeking, and in that aspect he is correct. I say that accepting apparent reality (and it is all apparent reality at this stage, because it is always changing, all the time) is as foolish as struggling against it. Both approaches give apparent reality power, and take it away from you. I say that you are not powerless, that you can control and change things. But you don’t do it through seeking or struggle. You change things by seeing them as they appear to be, as they present themselves to you, and then simply choosing not to invest your energy there anymore. Whatever the truth, you have an energy in you that is the same energy in everyone else and the whole of creation. You can interact with that energy using your thoughts, solidify that energy using your beliefs, and through your perception experience that energy in any way you wish. Here is an even simpler, parting example… Someone comes up to you and spits in your face. You have a thought about this experience. From these thoughts you choose what to believe and that determines your response. If in your culture it is an honor to be spat upon, you have a though that this is an honor, and you smile and say thank you. If you are a descendent of Irish settlers in South Bronx you have a thought that this asshole is insulting you, and you punch him into next week. If you smile at all it’s to show all your teeth in a threatening gesture. If you are a Buddhist Monk you will probably have the same thought as the Irishman, but will still smile lovingly at the person who spat on you. In this example, whatever you chose to do, you had a choice of action. Thoughts came, you chose which ones to grab onto and then you choose to invest energy into the corresponding belief. That belief, in turn, had a direct effect on your perception of reality. You chose to be honored, insulted, or to simply accept it as what is. You determine what is real for you, which is in fact only an apparent reality. This is your power,, to choose what beliefs you will put energy into, and this will directly affect your experience of apparent reality through your perception of it.

I have not taken the time to see what the others have posted to share something in context. I just read your first post, and I will give you my opinion. I was a Christian. I have told this story, part of "my story", many times here. I found Christianity to essentially not be enough. Things were left unanswered, things did not make sense, the Bible had many inconsistencies but didn't cover everything, and the Christian view of God made no sense. For example, why did God allow Satan to torture Job? If Heaven and Hell are separated by some uncrossable chasm, how did Satan cross it? Why would God let him come into Heaven in the first place, after casting him out? And how did Lucifer and 1/3 of the angels find sin in Heaven, which is supposed to be a perfect place? Also how does Heaven fit in with others have seen when they have died and returned? And why would I want to stay on once place for all eternity? Furthermore, how come a Buddhist monk, like Thich Nhat Hanh, would be consigned to eternal damnation in hell simply because he was/is a Buddhist, and not a Christian? I had read a few of his books, and I had never found anyone in my Christian faith even remotely as demonstrating the love that pours off the page's of this monk's teachings. It was this last bit about Thich Nhat Hanh that was the straw which broke the camel's back, for me. Combined with everything else, I renounced my faith. Then I went through the process of seperating my idea, my image, my identity, from my religion. Before I used to say, in answer to, "who are you?" "... and I'm a Christian." Well what the hell am I now? Be warned! Do not make your religion a part of your identity. It is better that you have no religion, so that you are open to all teachings, while remaining attached to none. But if you must choose a religion or path, do not make that a part of who you consider yourself to be! If you do you place yourself in the position of having to defend your religion whenever you have to defend your identity. This is how all religious wars have started and will ever start. When followers of one religion, one spiritual path, must fight the followers of another religion, another spiritual path, in order to defend their identities, their sense of self. Choosing one religion, one path, one set of beliefs, will leave you close-minded to anything that opposes, and someones that which is said or seems to oppose is not even based in your faith. For example as a Christian I had adopted the belief of other Christians around me, that homosexuality is wrong. But there is, to my knowledge, nothing that directly says so in the Bible. The same for masturbation, something I still struggle with today. Yes, I am being completely authentic and honest with you here. I should also mention, in the spirit of honesty, that being what others call "spiritual, not religious" is no walk in the park either. When you have a chosen religion or path, things are clear. You follow those teachings. You disregard everything else. Any religion, not just Christianity, is a "straight and narrow way." But if you are "spiritual, not religious" then all teachings are available, and it becomes a very wide, serpentine, maze-like path. What is the Truth? What is true? I read this in one book, but this author says something different. This is what I am dealing with now. I am feeling very confused and lost. Apparently this is a good state to be in, this "I don't know" state. But I hate it! Still your experience may be different, or you may enjoy the state of "not knowing." If that is so then a path of no religion is the best choice for you. Your best bet to start is to pick up the texts or listen to the teachings that speak to you, where you are now. If you are in tine with your intuition things that are true for you will click with you. As your mind is open the world opens up to you. You really feel like anything is possible. And the afterlife? Well now it can be an adventure! You don't have to stay in one place for all eternity or reincarnate. You don't have to worry about karma or sin, judgement or punishment. You can have any afterlife experience you choose! Also you can define God how you choose. Is it a He or a She separate from you? Or are you connected to Him or Her? Or are you one with Him or Her? Or are you, inside, in some way, Him or Her? Or is God an it, simply an energy? This is my idea of God. An energy that is above all human duality. Not critical, not judgmental, neither hates no loves, somehow, in some way I don't understand, it is beyond that. But certainly not the Christian idea of God as some old man in a throne somewhere who seems to suffer from human duality. Duality, for the record, as I understand it, is extremes of hate/love, judgment/acceptance, bad/good, right/wrong. Apparently there is some state outside of this that allows all extremes yet is beyond them. Someone more experienced in their spiritual journey can explain this better. The easy way is the way that Christians say few find. But I think its the easy way that everyone finds, and Christians don't have this right. I think the hard way is the way few find, and the hard way is to step off the path of a chosen religion, a chosen set of beliefs, and make your own way. The easy way is to become a Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, Jehovah's Witness, Muslim, etc. To follow one path, to follow one set of teachings. The harder way is to open yourself to all religions, taking what speaks to you on a moment by moment basis as you proceed, as you grow spiritually. One last warning here: Hold your beliefs loosely. That is practice being ready to drop them at a moment's notice whenever they prove to be false, when they no longer serve, when they are holding you back. Do not make your beliefs or belief systems a part of your identity, any more than a religion. You are not what you believe or what religion you follow. Nobody dies and enters the afterlife a Buddhist, Christian or Muslim. The sooner people realize this, the sooner we grow up enough as a species to throw religion out the door. Because when you die all that is left is who you really are, beyond your physical body, and who you really are has no religion it subscribes to, no beliefs, set, single or system. You can't take anything from this world with you when you die, and that may even include your memories, although I am not sure of this, or any of this. Consider this a theory for now. Something else I wanted to mention that I have been thinking about the last few days. A theory or thought is developing. That is that humans need to stop giving power, or energy, to things outside themselves. We give belief energy into a religion, an idea of God, the scientific method, the law of gravity, and a bunch of other things. But just because something by all appearance is right or working does not mean that it is the only way, the only possibility, completely infallible, or 100% true! We also give power to people or things outside us. We give power to the president to keep us safe, and now America is not a true democracy, because laws are being passed no American had opportunity to vote for. We are a "representative democracy." That just means we have decided to let others make the tough decisions for us, and now Americans are very sheep-like, just cattle moving along in herds in traffic on the highways. We give power to our mates, or companions, or friends, to make us feel loved, to complete us, to keep us from being lonely. We call ourselves husband, wife, lover, friend. Yet when the other leaves, what are we? We have made this relationship a part of our identity, and given power to someone to do something that they can not do. We give power to money to buy our happiness. Yet when the money runs out, when our positions disappear in a flood of water, a mudslide, or are destroyed in a tornado, fire or earthquake, where is our happiness? We used to say, "I am a homeowner." Well what are you now that you are living on the street? We don't question enough where we put our power. So we become addicted to things, we seek things, we look outside for whatever it is we are seeking, giving power to that thing to be the answer, the solution, that thing that completes us. By giving our power away we imprison ourselves, in a cage of beliefs, a religious trap, or a web of relationships. I read that what I am seeking is really myself, who I really am, that presence that has been within me since I was a child, which is a part of God, or one with God, or something. I call God the Source, as I view it as an energy, not an entity. I do not know if I buy into this. That all I need is right inside me. I am still working through this. I can only say that I see the logic that seeking things to make me happy, or complete me, or release me, or anything else, outside of myself, will bring me suffering. So whatever you choose to do, work on your inside, see if you are seeking, be honest with what you are experiencing, this moment. Admit, allow, accept. Fighting against something gives it power over you. Better to go limp in the jaws of whatever has got you, or you will suffer. There is more here I should say but I need to go to bed. You may PM me if you have anything you wish to ask of me and my experience, or any questions, or if you just want to talk.

Here is a link to my latest blog post: http://adifferentpath.blog.com/2014/03/21/thoughts-on-thoughts/ I have just started absorbing this idea, but I am curious to know if you think I am on the right track or not. I appreciate your feedback!

Thank you all for your posts, I appreciate your advice and criticism! However my present-moment experience, right now, as I type this, is confused. I will have to read everything said here a few more times. The ocean and wave analogy is not mine. This comes from Jeff Foster's, "The Deepest Acceptance." I admit I am troubled... If the teachings of this author are wrong, then that is problematic for me, as I have been reading this, applying what I have read, and it has helped me, at least I think it has helped me. I am learning to simply be OK with whatever is presenting itself to me. I am learning to stop seeking. I think this text has seriously contributed to my spiritual growth. Does that make it good even if its bad? Can a writing that is wrong somehow be right for me? How does this work? Is there any sort of test you can give a book to determine if the teachings are right or wrong? But who decides, and who is there to say their opinion is right or wrong? Is all of this subjective? What is poison to you in your spiritual journey is an antidote to me on mine? Yes, at this moment, I am very confused. I am saying, "I don't know" more than I care to. I would like to have a handle on something. Otherwise I feel adrift, like nothing matters, and what the hell is the point? The Bible is cherished by Christians and considered Truth. I used to be a Christian, and I had this same belief towards this text. Now I am not a Christian. If I am to be labeled, I am "spiritual, not religious." Now the Bible to me is part possible account, part metaphysical truth beyond or outside Christian interpretation, and certainly not the whole Truth, not the only book one should read on a spiritual path. I think the same could safely be said for all religious texts. At best these are fragments of a larger picture. But is that True? How are we to know if all religious texts are fragments of the whole, or if perhaps all but one of them are True? If we determine that one is True, and the rest are not, how do we find the one that is True? How can we know it is True? In another thread someone said that they didn't want a "false faith." It implied to me that perhaps having faith is wrong? Maybe I misunderstood them. But if faith is wrong, don't you have to have it to believe that all religious texts are part of a bigger picture of Truth, or one only is True? Because you can't really know for certain, can you? So in not-knowing, you have to demonstrate faith, don't you? I am not finding my way through this puzzle. I hope someone can guide me. I am very, very confused,

I am not sure if what I want to do is mind conditioning. I do find it useful to reprogram myself. Living as a Christian for most of my life, living with societal and familial beliefs systems the only way to stop thinking the way I have been programmed as a child is to program myself to think differently. I do not know how be free of mind conditioning. I mean my mind has already been conditioned one way, so if the better course is to become unconditioned, not to condition myself another way, how do I go about this? In any case although I was entertaining the thought of subliminally programming myself, initially all I want to do is ask myself some questions. I want to access that part of myself that is referred to as unconscious, but is really subconscious or subjective. I feel I am hiding things from myself, and I want answers. I have come to a place where I understand that I am not to seek. So whatever I do I have to do it without seeking. I am still learning about this. But seeking or not, I still need to know what I should do or where I should go. I am fairly certain I know these answers but am not able or not allowing myself to hear them or access them. I know I have to use the seeker here as I am looking for these answers. But I need direction. I also want to know why I am, all of a sudden, having trouble recalling my dreams. Why I can't seem to lucid dream. Why I am having so much trouble astral projecting. What is my dream, purpose, fate, True Life or whatever else you call that? Maybe monks would gladly trade places with me, as perhaps being directionless is some sort of ideal state. But I do not like it. I have to clearly know and understand what my best course of action may be. I want to root out whatever I have hidden from myself and come to terms. Bring it all out, feel whatever needs feeling, experience whatever needs experiencing, begin the process of freeing myself from anything that would cause resistance in me, or become a barrier to me, or whatever. You say I should not condition my mind. OK. I am not sure, at this moment, my thoughts on that. But I am not looking to condition my mind. I can table that for now. I simply want to hypnotize myself, ask myself some questions, answer them, if possible while in a trance state without the interference of the conscious mind and ego, wake myself up, and listen, learning what I need to learn.

deci belle Thank you.

Seeker of Tao I have no interest in defending a viewpoint or belief. I may appear to dip into those muddy waters as I have only recently begun to transform. I used to be someone that would fight to the point of getting banned from a forums for his beliefs. I am not that person anymore. In fact, I really don't know who I am now. Which I think may be a good thing, because it means I am free of any assumptions about myself. In my reply to what you said I was merely guessing and theorizing. Working my way through this idea. I think this is provable. If someone, somewhere has developed wings you can use for flying, strap them on to someone who society would label delusional or mentally ill, someone who thinks they can fly, and see what happens. In the end I think the conclusion I arrived at is more likely than what I started with. It is not some hidden belief holding them back, although this may be a possibility if there is any merit to the idea that all creatures on the earth are born with certain things they know programmed into their DNA. More likely, most likely it is simply that the human body is not designed for flight, it does not have the equipment. Some humans have been able to levitate, and defy gravity that way. But I am sticking with flight here as an example, not affecting gravity energetically. Can humans fly without wings? Can they levitate, in other words? Well I agree with what you said, that it is not just belief that allow someone to defy gravity or walk through walls. There is more to this issue than that. Some things I can think of from the top of my head are: mindset, perception and beliefs. All I can say for sure is that this would be an interesting field of study. Thank you for your reply. dee I completely understand your viewpoint. You will believe it when you see it. However you may find it beneficial in your practice to practice faith. Some things in your life will not be tangible, you will have no way of knowing their truth of their reality, and the only way to proceed is to step out in faith. Ever watch Indiana Jones cross the chasm? Inevitably we all come to such chasms. We look down and all we see is darkness and empty space. To reach the other side we have to step out and, by the act of stepping out, demonstrate faith that there is a a way across, whether we see it or not. I looked at your words so carefully out of respect. I wanted to be sure to properly reply to everything you said. I also had a desire to help you, as I saw a belief there you were and perhaps still are holding blindly too, and as someone who defined himself by his beliefs, and defended them to the loss of forum accounts and friends, I recognize all too well when this is happening, and I know all to well the damage it can do to an individual. It is like picking up broken glass and holding it tightly in your hand, refusing to let go, because you didn't see broken glass when you picked it up, or perhaps you never saw it at all. But you believe, you just know, that you have some treasure there in your hand, so you hold it tighter and tighter, but all the while it is cutting into your hand deeply, and you are bleeding. You are suffering, and even though you may be aware of this, you refuse to let go. You may even adopt the resulting pain and suffering as part of your identity. You say that this is who you are. Probably the best thing I ever did was to open my hand and let the worthless garbage in there go. I opened my hands, I opened myself, I opened my mind. In that openness I found freedom. When I learned to pick up something that I think may be valuable, I learned to hold it loosely, so I can easily let it go. The same way love for another should be held. The ego is what drives you to grasp, to hold, and probably to pick up in the first place. The ego is concerned with your concept, your image of yourself. It wants to defend this, and all the beliefs that comprise it. To loose any of those beliefs is to watch the whole concept, the whole image, crumble. Then who are you? That may seem like a terrifying state to be in, and I can tell you from personal experience it is. Who am I? I have no clue. If I am not my body, not my religion, not my beliefs, not my social position, not what I do or who I am with, then what, who, am I? I think a better question is why do I need to know who I am? Why is that important? I have chosen to blaze my own way through the terrain of spiritual experience, and I am now lost, wandering in circles, but I am beginning to understand that maybe I should have stop wandering around and just sat down. Stop trying to get anywhere. The same as I am learning to let go of my concepts and images. To stop defending them and to release them like the broken glass they ultimately are. To simply be whatever the heck I am outside of these. So this is my present moment experience, and it is from this place I have spoken to you. I will certainly share a video of my walking through a wall or levitating should I ever find myself able to do these things. There is a lot out there that I want to experience and learn about. But my other present moment struggle is with seeking, and letting go of it, wherever it lurks in my life. Still I find what I have read so far about the Tarahumara fascinating, as well as this thing called ringsels which I have read about in, "the Way of Play." I have to figure out how to experience these these people, places or things without seeking them You can find videos of me just sitting, and talking more about these sorts of things, at my YouTube channel, here. They are called "The Circle." https://www.youtube.com/user/DreamBlissFlows/videos?tag_id=UCzlmdNE27ArlLR2AVUcoCbA.3.the-circle&view=46&flow=grid To all the rest who posted - thank you for sharing your insights and viewpoints. That is just one of many things I love about this forums! I can always count on someone giving me another perspective, or a more spiritually developed person setting me straight!

Dee I would like to challenge your thinking. I am not attacking you, nor am I trying to force anything on you. You say that humans can not walk through solid windows/walls. I will assume that this is also something you believe. That this is reality for you. If I am wrong feel free to correct me. OK, now let's challenge what you "know." First of all have you ever tried walking through a solid window or wall? If you haven't even tried it, you really have no right to claim that it is not possible. Assuming that you have tried this and presumably failed, have you taken any time to ask yourself where this belief came from. Is it truly your belief, or did you pick it up somewhere? Finally have you looked for and met anyone who claims to have this ability to walk through solid matter? It is easy to say it is not possible because you have not done it, but have you put any effort into watching someone else try to do it? Because if you haven't, you can't honestly say it is not possible, because as long as there is one person outside yourself that you have not seen try and fail at this, the possibility remains that people can walk through solid matter. Finally have you studied any science or physics? What does the latest scientific studies tell you about matter? Do they completely eliminate any possibility of someone walking through solid matter? Is this truly outside the realm of science? I warn you emphatically and lovingly to be very careful about what you choose to believe. Your beliefs set the limits for your experience of reality. There are things out there that defy mankind's definition of reality. They even defy mankind's current scientific knowledge. You can choose to close yourself off to these things, that is your choice. But before you do, ask yourself if you are truly happy with what your family, friends and society define as reality, AKA what's possible. Seeker of Tao "This 'if you believe it will happen' LOA stuff is just not true. Why do schizophrenics who truly believe they can fly not fly if this is true?" I am not any kind of medical professional, assuming a medical professional knows more about the human body and mind than I do. But my guess would be that, assuming your statement is true, a schizophrenic doesn't fly because somewhere, deep down inside, there is still the belief that they can not fly, that humans do not fly because they do not have wings. This is one of those societal beliefs, programmed into us when we are very young. These beliefs may even go back further, and be embedded in our DNA. A sort of species knowledge every individual of every race is born with. Birds are born, more than likely, knowing they can fly. Probably more automatic than that. Somehow there is no question of flight for them. And humans are born with the opposite. For us its not flying but walking. Just a natural tendency I guess. When a schizophrenic gets up on a ledge or something and prepares to jump off, my guess is that whatever their conscious belief, there is something subconscious or subject that prevents them from taking off. Also lets not forget a human doesn't have the equipment. Has anyone created a functioning pair of wings and placed them on a schizophrenic who thinks they can fly? Try that and get back to me with the results. My guess is that their conscious belief will override the subjective or subconscious, and they will flap away like they were born into it! Question... What is LAO and why do you say what you do about it? I am curious as to the apparent Christian and Buddhist belief system of powerlessness, that an individual is not in control, that some things should be accepted as they are, etc.

Well after reading the replies following mine I still don't know who this Wong fellow is. One thing did catch my eye however... Women want a man with a diploma? Well crap! That means I have two strikes against me already! I'm a college dropout and I have no steady employment.... ...And here I thought all the females wanted was a man who looks like a Greek god and has a car... I can't believe I have been so wrong!

Who the heck is Wilson Yong?

Welcome newcomer! I think you will find this very supportive, if someone strange, community of fellow travelers on the spiritual path.

There is the idea of a Personal Legend. This thing we know as children. Then we forget, or a "mysterious force" convinces us that it is impossible. We grow up, listening to our families, friends, society. We stuff our dreams deep down inside, as they are impractical. Instead we go to college, or get a job, or marry and start a family. We grow old and we die, our dreams unfulfilled, our Personal Legend abandoned. I was envious of people who had this thing called a dream. I felt as if I was somehow missing something, incomplete because I did not have one, as far as I could recall. At my age the time for going after a dream, pursuing a Personal Legend, seemed to be coming to a close. I started reading the graphic novel adaptation of, "The Alchemist", and tonight I sat back and reflected. Seriously thought about my childhood, what I must have known as a child. I came to the conclusion there are three things that have stuck in my mind. I don't know how else to describe them: 1. To design and build structures or places, emphasis on building. 2. To play the guitar. 3. To go to the Big Sur area in California. As a child I played with legos. I think I mostly made buildings, but I do not remember clearly. This just feels right. It fits with my later building of structures around the place we used to live. Then, as a young man, I pursued various level editors, learning 3DS Max, and building things for video games. But these were counterfeits. I think the true legend is architecture. and the Taliesin Institute (the Frank Lloyd Wright school of architecture) specifically, as my starting point, unless an opportunity comes to just start building and designing things. I tried to learn the guitar. It was either not the right time or not the right teachers. I was teaching myself through DVDs and internet lessons. I think I need personal instruction, and a guitar. I sold the one I had. I don't know why the Big Sur area. It has stuck in my mind ever since reading about it in, "Spiritual Places." I have no specific place to go in mind (although there are numerous spiritual centers in the area I may visit.) Only a vision that may be connected, of an old man living in an old trailer near some red cliff faces not far from the ocean. That I have to see this person. Just the Big Sur area itself sticks in my mind, not this vision, but the two may be related. I am asking for help. Specifically I need the resources to go to the Big Sur, I think I am to start there, then I need the resources to go to the Taliesin Institute. Finally I need a guitar, something like I had before with more space between the frets than normal (a longer neck) as well as a teacher who is willing to teach me how to play it. Prayers, sending of energy, Treatments, mailing me items or donating money as you are compelled, these are what I am asking for. Funds can be sent via Amazon Payments to: dreamblissflows[at]gmail[dot]com. Replace the [at] and [dot] with the proper symbols. You may also contact me there for my mailing address. I also need someone who can either live here full time or be on call full time as a back up driver for my family and a helper for my grandmother. My dad would like to pursue his dream of hiking the PCT this year or the next, and if he leaves they will need another person here to take his place while he is gone. Normally that would be me, but I may also be gone. So prayer for the truest person for this position is also needed. I am leaving either this year or the next. I have made no plans yet. I have asked the Source for guidance and direction. I will not force things. I will flow, that is, I will be using grace, in my pursuit of what I believe to be my Personal Legend. Even if it is not, it should, by the very act of moving, that energy of going after it, draw me to it, or it to me. Only one thing I know for certain... Staying here is to stagnate and die inside. I choose to live life, in the present moment, to its fullest, not live the appearance of life, like a zombie, going from work to home, doing what society tells me I should be doing. It is time to follow my heart, not my head, or the voices of others. Thank you for your prayers and support!

There have been so many beliefs I had to let go of from my former Christian faith. Some of these, such as the concept of sin, have been a relief. As I progressed along my spiritual path I found other beliefs that empowered me, such as the concept that my thoughts create my reality. In other words, the world I experience is a reflection of my thoughts. But now I am faced with the possibility that this belief too, may be wrong. As a Christian it was all about God. If it's God's will. In God's time. It was such a relief to be out from under the thumb of some all-powerful eternal entity outside myself, who seemed to have the same ego-driven impulses as the human race He created. Judgment, punishment, allowing Job to be tormented. And Heaven was not the perfect place I was brought up to believe it was. How could it be, if Lucifer and 1/3 of the angels fell from it? Where could sin come from in a perfect place? Why would I want to spend eternity in one place anyway? I mean I no longer have a physical body. So I don't need to eat, I don't need money, I can go wherever I want. A grand adventure awaits me! These realizations helped me work through the threat of eternal damnation, something I had to struggle with when I renounced my faith. I turned my back on that belief, and all other organized religions. I decided instead to learn from the teachings of each religion whatever I needed to learn. After all I went through all that, and my experience with the tulpa I believe I created and had to disconnect myself from, I thought my struggle was over. I was actually feeling peaceful, serene, calm. Anger and depression no longer had the hold on me they once had. I was able to smile and laugh more often, when before I smiled and laughed rarely. This concept that I create my reality with my thoughts opened up the world for me. It did not matter to me that I did not have the power on a physical level to challenge or change the things in the world that bothered me. I knew I could change my thinking about them, stop investing belief energy into the reality these happenings proposed, and thereby remove all power from them. I could, just by addressing how I thought about things, change the world. At the same time I could come to what I now called the Source, a general-purpose name for what I used to call God that I adopted, about anything and everything. The Source, unlike God, had no ego. I simply could not bother it with my requests as it is eternally and perfectly loving and creative. All I had to figure out is how to access that power to manifest the things I wanted in my life and the world. How to properly ask for things, or pray. Kinda like figuring out what plug would fit this socket. If I could do that, I could do anything I wanted and be anything I wanted. But then I started reading things that told me that the creation part was finished. Everything was pretty much set in stone. I could not heal myself or others. I could only Treat them, by not focusing on the person or the dis-ease but on the nature of God. It was God that did all the work. At this level of my spiritual growth I could accept God and Source as different names for the same thing. God is not at all, in my mind, what He was when I was a Christian. Now God is more of an It, an energy, as I started. So when I use God from this point on, outside of the reference to my former faith, I am still referring to this new concept I have of this entity, which I also call Source. Anyhow up to this point Jesus, as detailed in the New Testament, became a sort of a role model for me. Now that I was no longer a Christian there was more freedom in studying the Bible. With other things I had read I could see this book differently now. I could see Jesus as a man who figured out how to plug in. I thought if Jesus could do it, so could I. We are both children of God afterall. We are both connected to or one with God. I am still struggling with this oneness thing. This essentially made me feel that I could live a life without limitation. All my life I had been limited by my circumstances, beliefs, thoughts. I had never been a powerful or wealthy person. All of a sudden it seemed as if I could experience what that would be like, to have the power in me to heal, transport myself anywhere in the world, fly, take control of my dreams, astral project and explore the energetic realms of the afterlife. I thought I could do anything. I was flying high, then the plane stalled. Now once again I was being told I was wrong. My beliefs were wrong. I can not control things. I can not create my reality. My thoughts do not create my reality. I do not do the miracles. There is nothing I can do. The world is set in stone, creation is finished. Even though what I, and the rest of humanity, call reality is not how things really are, how things really are can't be changed, so what would be the point in knowing the Truth of reality? I guess I though if I knew the Truth, I would then know how to do the things I wanted to do, or how to become what I wanted to be. Essentially everything now is hopeless. My life has no purpose. I have no idea what my dream may be. Even if I were to see reality as it really is, I can't change anything. Reality is set, my course is set, I have the illusion of free will, of the ability to do anything I put my mind to, but these are as illusory as what I think of as reality itself. On top of that there seems to be no way to really know the Truth. Everyone has different definitions, who knows which one is right? I have to hear my parents constantly saying that the world is coming to an end, the second coming a big part of the Christian faith. I also read in text after text that the purpose of my life is to serve, which I know is a pile of bullshit. So that just adds to the depression energy I feel. All day, every day. It is no wonder that I finally got sick in my physical body. It is a reflection of my inner state, in serious dis-ease, I am sure. So now I have to ask, if everything is set in stone, then what is the reason to keep going? I can only come up with one. Illusory or not, there is a big world out there, and the Big Sur has stuck in my mind, so I guess I am going to have to ignore reason, free my intuition, step out in faith, with no guarantees I will even have a place to sleep, clothes on my body, or food in my belly, and go. I will have to lay my son on the alter, so-to-speak, the comforts of living here. I am blessed with a roof over my head, clothes and food. But I am starving spiritually, and if all my life were to be was living here, I would kill my physical body right now and free myself without hesitation. I need to let this go, get rid of unreasonable reason, and act solely on intuition. I know this is a major area in my life I must address. But how do I deal with this desire to have some measure of control or power, which I have never had, my whole life? I will have even less when I am hiking or biking down the coast. No safety, no security. No assurance that even if my inner landscape is at peace, and I am thinking nothing but loving thoughts, that I will even survive on the way down there, or if I get down there, once I am there. I mean if my thoughts do not create my reality, I certainly can't create a realty of getting along with everyone I meet, can I? If things are set in stone, if fate or destiny or karma rule, then I am powerless to insure a pleasant experience for myself. If I can't think good thoughts about what will happen, and the people I will meet, and expect that to be the reflection I see out in the world, then I am at the mercy of the whims of some design already set in place. The script is written, so-to-speak. I only think I can ad-lib. Once again I am left without answers, without even the faith I once had that if I just thought correctly about my circumstances and the people I meet, that I would be safe. I know I need to deal with the things driving my need for control, power and magic. I will use the word magic to describe acts that most people do not do. Walking through walls, teleportation, flying, healing. Maybe miracles is a better word. But I have always thought of this as magic. That this world is plain and dull without magic. Without wonder, a sense of wonder, without amazing things. Not that life in its many forms on this planet is not amazing. But a beautiful bird that can fly is nothing to a human who is flying, with no wings, devices or anything other than simply having figured out how to supersede the concept of the law of gravity. I need to figure out the roots of these desires and address them. But I am tried of this letting go. I am weary of it. Every time it has hurt and taken me a long time to recover, and I still have not recovered fully. I am hurt and tired. I don't believe oneness with God is any more of a desirable future than Heaven or reincarnation. I question the things I have been reading. I wonder what the Truth really is. I wonder if things have to be so hard. If I have to go through all this shit just to finally, someday, when I am 90 years old and have little time left physically to enjoy it, be able to do the things I have always wanted to do and be the person I want to be. I am not even sure who that is. Someone who is doing whatever they love to do, that thing they loose track of time doing, that thing they get lost in. I guess I want to live that life, and I want to live a life without limitations. I am tired of limitations, restrictions and rules. I want to live an unlimited life, doing what I love doing. If I am going to have a dream that is it. If this is an impossible dream to attain in a reasonable amount of physical time I guess I had better just kill myself and be done with it. There would literally be no point in living if I can't have that life. Or at the very least a life where I am doing what I love to do, and I have figured out how to access, channel or work with the Source to keep my own physical body healthy and manifest needed things. I guess now I want to see what others think. If you have a point of view I would appreciate it if you expounded on it. I remember in a previous thread that someone said my thoughts do not create my reality. They never explained why they said that. I seek understanding here, and if it is available, confirmation. I seek the Truth, whatever that is and however painful it may be. The true Truth too, not the Truth according to your religion. The Truth that has been proven to be experientially true by someone with many years experience on their own spiritual path. I am feeling a little lost and directionless right now. I have hacked my way through the dense jungle of various spiritual teachings and am now standing here, unsure of where I should go next. Please point me in the right direction if you can.

ThisLife: I am still looking for that happiness button! To go along with the side-track of this thread... I am not taking sides here. I will speak only experientially. Based on my own experience, if I could have come into that dance knowing what girl would laugh at my face I would have avoided that girl. I would have avoided taking that other friend out and pursuing any relationship with her. I would not have done the things that caused the one I thought I loved to be driven away. In other words, had I known what I came to know I would not have done what I did. I would have chosen another course of action, pressed the happiness button instead. In fact I used to tell myself that perhaps I will figure out some day how to transport myself back to the past and warn myself. But then I wonder, if I came back, would I come back to the same life I have now, it being it's own dimension among the countless threads of dimensions, or would it be different? Well I will not open that can of worms and really send this thread off the rails! I will only say that I have never, with full knowledge, chosen, at least consciously, unhappiness. I always tried to to the things I thought would make me happy, or that my beliefs said would make me happy, or that my others in poistions of influence, like my parents and teachers, said that would make me happy. My whole life I have been pressing the button I thought was the hapiness button, but it turns out I was pressing the wrong one! In fact I am coming to believe there is only one button, and that is the unhappiness butrton! It is in the act of trying to press a button for happiness that I bring unhappiness. It occurs to me happiness comes naturally, same as service. It is a natural part of the experience of life when someone is flowing along, not trying to do antything or make anything hapopen. This is hard to explain. Basically when we pursue happiness it runs away from us. When we stop pursuing I guess it either finds us, in the circumstances of our lives, or it was always there. I will let others debate that. What we have to watch out for, as I have recently learned, is any unconscious pursuit of happiness, or the pursuit of something else with another name that is really a disguise for happiness, as seems to be my case. In other words we might be looking for mate, and the subconsious train of that is that if we had someone to share our life with, we would be happy. But we are pursuing, consciously at least, a mate, not happiness. So introspection is needed to get to the root of a thing. I am still not sure about all what I am about to say, but perhaps people just forgot they were born perfect, with everytrhing they need for happiness, and as we grew up we somehow got it into our heads that happiness is found somewhere outside of ourselves. Really all human constructions, from various definitions of God and the resulting religions to time itself must all come from the same root, humans looking outside of themselves for happiness. But is happiness, wholeness, completeness, whatever, truly found inside? Or is this just more seeking? Maybe happiness, God, time and everything else doesn't exist? Maybe everything is all an illusion, and we are all brunts of some cosmic joke. Or maybe we really are just evolved primates. Maybe all life on this planet, the planet itself, and the universe is the result of some random chance, and we are stuck asking why when there is no answer. We're all just chunks of feces in the fart cloud of creation!

I am reading Jeff Foster's, "Deepest Acceptance." The other night I picked it out of the 2 dozen or so texts I have next to my bed from the library, and it inspired my previous thread. Reading it I learned I need to stop resisting the present moment. I became aware that I was constantly thinking about the future or the past. Or I would try to avoid the world by putting my nose in a book or some ear buds in my ears. I have only started the re-programming process today. Reading the next chapter, "The Ocean of Acceptance" a question came to mind. So this thread will be really short, for once. My question is simply this... What if there is no life after this one? What if there is only this one, physical existance and nothing else afterward? How would that affect being in the present moment? Because I could no longer claim that I am the ocean and the waves of present moment experience can not affect me. There is no I, in this example, no Higher Self, to live on, to remain unaffected by the happenings in the physical realm. In this example there is only my me, my physical body. In other words, what if this whole "present moment" thing is a big pile of dog doodoo? Not saying that this is the case, merely asking what if. Looking for a clear perspective on this.

I guess, even though I call it clarity, understanding, or Truth what I really am seeking is indeed hapiness. I have not spent much time in introspection on this, but at first inward glance that appears to be the case. If I know how things work, how to plug in, then I am in control. I must believe at some level that this control will allow me to have the life I want, and in having the life I want I will be happy. I worked through some of this last night, after starting this thread. My desire for control ultimately stems from fear, as all desire for control does. But it goes deeper. When I was a Christian I came to a point where I did not trust God. Prayers were not answered, God did not provide, did not protect me from hurt, pain, embarrassment, humialtion, and all the other crap that happened to me. I threw myself into His service, following the wishes of my parents and teachers, went out to minster to children. I found rejection by a father who said I was not good enough for his daughter, Heartbreak as I watched someone I thought I loved being driven away some years later. Rejection again as a girl laughed in my face when I asked her to dance. Rejection again as I took a friend out to see if she wanted to be more than a friend, but she wanted to be with some guy she met on the internet. Only this rejection was more personal. She would not sleep with me. She slept with some random guy. She wanted to get the sex thing over with so she wouldn't disappoint this internet guy. I came close to killing myself. I was too much of a coward. I know that may be a strange thing to say. I thought I left this baggage behind with my former faith, but I discovered I needed to forgive God, now perceived as the Source, so that this stuff didn't keep haunting me. So I did that. I also released and letr go of all negative thoughts, beliefs, feelings, mindsets or programming I had towards God. Then I released and let go of my need to control my life. I know I have done a shit job with it so far. But I came to realize I needed to forgive myself, so I did. I understood that I did not know any better. I was given this gift called life and I never thought to go to the gift-giver and ask how best to use it. I have entrusted my life to the Source, and am now practicing being present minded, because the only reason to resist that would be if I was trying to control my life, shape it to what I want, and I refuse to try that anymore. This is tough and I am not sure if I can keep it up. But I don't give up easy. Hell it took experiences that literally blew up the Christian faith and its teachings before I could move beyond that faith! For the record, I do not jump willy-nilly from one teaching to another. I read a book. If it rings true, I apply it. If things ring false I chuck it. I read and I apply what I read. I think about what I read. Look inward at my feelings and thoughts. Maybe I am doing something wrong here, maybe I am seeking happiness yet again through the pages of these texts. I will have to work through that later. I also still have to deal with my desire for power and/or magic. I think its roots are partially simillar, born of a distrust in God. But I sense there is more. To answer a poster, if I had such powers I would definetely use them for myself. But I think I would also use them to help others, as the need arose. On an interesting note I have made a marked physical recovery over the last two days of posting this thread and working through this. Could that be a sign that the inner part of myself is also getting well? Thank you all for reading this thread and posting your insights. I appreciate your support!

OK here is part of the list of the DVDs I can currently access: Qi Gong for Beginners and Qi Gong for Stress Relief By: Garripoli Tai Chi for Fitness By: David Chang AM Chi, Lower Body Chi, PM Chi, Tai Chi Beginning Practice, Tai Chi Daily Practice By: David-Dorian Ross Energy Exercises for Emotional Vitality, Energy Exercises for The Beginner, Energy Exercieses for The Intermediate By: Discovering Chi (series) Tai Chi for Beginners By: Samual Barnes Tai Chi Inner-Wave By: Joey Bond Tai Chi Fundamentals By Tricia Wu Which of these, if any, should I use? If any of these are not something you would recommend, why exactly? For example, in another thread I started on another subject. Matthew Cohen's Fire and Water Qi Gong came up. The person that said the exercises were bad gave a couple of reasons, among them things like Mr. Cohen is flexing his muscles when they are supposed to be relaxed. What I am looking for are energy gathering/purifying exercises, preferably in Qi Gong (AKA Chi Kung). I like the side effects of good muscle flexibility among other things. I always liked Cohen's workout because I could use that after a really hard day of work where I was stiff and sore and I always felt better. I could also use it after a draining day and feel energized. Furthermore I can "see" the flame at my center, even meditating on this now, and I know when it is blinding bright and full of energy or when it is dim with little energy. The amount of energy I see there is directly releated to what I experience in my body. So I am looking to, in essence, recharge myself. I should also mention that it appears I am linked in some way to the earth or earth energy. I now see vines that come up and either connect to roots I put down from my feet or the vines just enter my body. This is all in my minds eye of course. Be kinda freaky to have vines come out of the ground into your physical body Anyhow this is symbolic, to me, of energy from the earth, while a sort of system or web or whatever of light rays or shoots - whatever you want to call them, connect to the energy of the sun/sky. Anyhow there is shamanic, magician and other energtic stuff going on here, and this should be considered in any DVD you recommend. Yeah I know I'm weird OK, as for length 10 minutes is awesome, 20 is OK, 30 is bearable, 40+ is "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!" So somewhere between 10-40 minutes is best for me. Also the exercises/moves should be very well narrated, as in Cohen's DVD, so I can easily see and feel how my body should be placed, and know I have it in the right position. Whatever else you can say about Cohen, you can certainly easily follow the audio of his DVD most of the time. Any DVD that depends on the video to explain everything is not as useful to me. Because I can carry around and use an audio file with me. But I can't work that way with a video file. Free is awesome, if any such creature exists. You give me the names of good teachers I'll gladly hunt around YouTube. Otherwise I will see what I can dig up at the library. Have a bunch of material there, something in it has to be of good quality. As always your help is appreciated. I would really like to get it right this time, hope I don't have to unlearn anything Cohen taught wrongly. - DreamBliss P.S. PLEASE NOTE! DO NOT RECOMMEND A CLASS OR ANYTHING THAT COSTS MONEY TO ME! I have no money to buy anything, so I have YouTube and the library. Of course I also have a birthday coming up on the 11th... Hint... Hint... Right now on my birthday/Christmas list are Josephine McCarthy's "The Excorsit's Handbook" and Magical Knowledge books II and III, Shalia Catherine's "Focused and Fearless" and "Wisdom Wide and Deep." Prentice Mulford's "Thought AreThings," Franz Bardon's "Initiation Into Hermetics" and, last but not least, the "Kybalion" by the Three Initiates.

I need your help to solve a mystery. Tonight, when making tea, I broke my one and only one gallon glass jar. Now I know science can explain to me the symptoms as to why this happened. A weak spot in the glass that finally gave way. Someone dropped it unbeknownst to me or maybe there was some crack I didn't notice. Or maybe all glass jars break after you have poured boiling water in them for a while. Science can certainly explain the symptom of the problem, but not its cause. In other words science can explain how the jar broke, but not why. If it is true that I create my reality, then I somehow, at some level, wanted the glass jar to break. I caused it to break. I set into motion the events leading to me getting that particular jar or whatever else caused it to break. Now I did not have continuous strong thoughts that were negative towards the jar. I didn't always think, every time that I poured boiling water into it, that it would break. I didn't have strong, conscious feelings at least, towards it not breaking. I mean I cared about the jar, it's what I made tea in, and I am obviously upset it is broken. But I was not obsessed with this jar or anything. I didn't have feelings or thoughts towards it breaking. There was a small undercurrent of wondering if it would break, a little worry attached to that, but that's it. Should not have been enough to actually cause the jar to break. I am sure that I did not want the jar to break, but that I also did not harbor strong fear thoughts about it breaking. Whatever worries I had were there only because I lost my previous jar, and it was some time before I received this replacement. I did not, physically at least, break the other jar. No, this thread is not really about a frikkin' jar. The jar is actually a straw that broke the camel's back. I have failed, yet again, to manifest the books I requested. I still do not have a clear idea as to what the hell I should do with my life or where the hell I should go. I am frustrated, depressed and feeling drained. I keep somehow forgetting to do things like work on my modeling, writing or through this singing book by Silvia Nakkach. Just the other day I has jazzed up after doing some of the early exercises in her book, and feeling as well as thinking I would love to attend one of her workshops – perhaps I could manifest the resources needed to attend. I have since lost all steam. It's like some vampire that feeds on positive energy has come to me and sucked my meager reserves of it dry. To put it simply, I am screwing up somehow, to the point I am causing these issues in my life, including the physical manifestation of a breaking jar and failing miserably at producing any requested physical objects. On top of this I have to deal with a very unhealthy environment for me right now. My mom and my grandmother have been fighting all day. Up until this present moment, for reasons I can not explain, I have been unable to astral project, lucid dream, remember little exercises related to these, perform physical exercises, or pursue any of my artistic or creative channels. I want to, I have a desire to, at least consciously. But for some reason I don't. I used to think there was some kind of resistance or block there. But I have come to understand that any blocks or resistance would only be in my mind, constructed by me. That I, and everyone else, are all connected to the Source and each other, and that these channels are forever open. They only appear closed or blocked in the minds of those who have these blocks, or this resistance, in their mind. Our natural state is to be perfect, like the Source energy that gives us all life. That means our natural state is also to be perfectly creative, just as the Source is. So by feeling or thinking there is a block or some kind of resistance there I only reinforce any block or resistance I previously created in my mind, or rather in my access of mind, assuming that mind is universal for all of us. One mind, many forms. Digressing... The point is that if I don't want to have blocks or resistances then I have to stop believing, feeling and/or thinking they are there. See myself in the desired state, a fully open channel between myself and the Source, which is my True State anyway. Here is my problem... If the Source is creative and loving energy, if it is light, if there is no darkness in it, then shouldn't positive thoughts be more powerful than negative ones? Because this is not my experience. I have to fight and struggle to the point of exhaustion to keep the energy and mindset needed to manifest something in my life. I am exhausted! Having trouble coming up with the energy to try again. Not sure I even want to. But if I think the briefest negative thought towards a glass jar, for example, it will shatter! It is so much easier to think negatively, to fear, doubt, worry, criticize, judge and do all these other low vibration things. It's far easier to manifest negative stuff in my life instead of positive things. And negative things that have been established for any length of time are nearly impossible to remove and uproot! While tending to the seed of any positive thing requires an immense amount of effort to allow it to grow, develop and put down roots. And even when you have an established positive mature thing, the weakest negative thought can decimate it utterly! Why in the hell is that? It makes no sense. Isn't negative energy the opposite of the energy of the entire frikkin' universe? The opposite of the Source? What am I missing here? I mean if force in general is not the best approach to any situation, but its opposite, flow, is (which is what has proven true in my experience) then negative energy should struggle to do anything, because if the natural state of everything is positive energy, then negative energy would have to use force to do anything. Negative energy should repel positive energy, and visa-versa. So negative energy should not be able to be used to create anything, as its nature is destruction. Negative energy should not be able to draw creativity to it. So how come negative things manifest quicker and with less effort than positive things? Then there are those that say there is no negative energy. But how exactly does that work? Please help me solve the mystery of the broken jar. I need something, not sure what, some guidance, some sign – something that can explain how this can be, what I am doing wrong, how I am messing up, how to get this right. I refuse to accept or believe that negative energy and low vibration mental states are more powerful than positive energy and higher vibration mental states. I absolutely refuse to accept or believe that! It is illogical and it makes no sense! The only way it could make sense is if the Source, what others call God, is actually the opposite of what I think. That it is actually a Source of destruction and hatred. That is the only way negative things could have more power. It is the only way darkness could conquer light. Nothing else makes sense! Let me urge you, whether you agree with or understand anything in this thread or not, to listen to your heart, your intuition, and post whatever comes to you. If its personal feel free to PM me. No response is irrelevant. Every single one is important. I have to get Sherlock Holmes on this things arse, so every clue is important! Please do not leave me in the dark here, help me understand this! I know that someone out there will share the idea, or say the phrase or word, that will unlock this. Help me figure out how to manifest a requested object and how to stop inadvertently breaking jars with my mind! Thank you for reading!

I had maybe a glimmer of understanding today on this. That positive and negative are probebly just perception based - they do not exist. I know the world simply is, and I color it with my perceptions, deciding what things in the world are good and what things are bad. So it stands to reason that the Source simply is. But that would mean that it could not be creativity, love and light. If the Source, like the world it gives life to, simply is, then any idea of good bad, light, dark, hate love, creativity, destruction are all human perceptions. The actions of the Source are interpreted to be one way or another by humans. But of the Source just is, then its actions also just are. I can't wrap my head around this. I do not understand. Is the Source, the energy of the universe, just energy that we interpret as good or bad? I mean I don't think the Source has an ego, but what drives it? Or is it just some soulless, emotionless force that, one it is understood how to use it, can be used for what humans would interpret as bad or good? But at the core it is just a lifeless energy, a force, a power, something like electricity, nothing more? I guess I don't want to think that. I liked leaving my Christian faith and this idea of some ego-driven God prone to human emotional fits behind. I liked the idea of a pure energy of love and light. If it loves, then it cares. But if all it is is electricity, and all I have to do to manifest things is figure out how to plug into it, the whole of creation seems suddenly dark, cold and worthless to me. Life seems worthless. I wish I knew the truth here, understood this.

Please explain this.

So to start with my intuition is, at the present moment, and to my present knowledge, not very developed. I have too many irons in the fire to address this right now. All my concentration, energy and focus is going into opening myself completely to the Source, to clear the channels to my artistry and creativity. So this is not a thread asking how to develop my intuition, although if you know of any good resources on the subject I wouldn't mind it if you shared them. No, this is about a sort of drive or pull I get sometimes. Right now I have made a request to the Source to provide 3 specific books by 2:45 PM Saturday afternoon. I am practicing keeping a laser focus on that, the manifestation to me of these items. The other day I felt I should go to Goodwill. That drive or pull again. So I went. No books. This was a previous attempt and it turns out I had the titles wrong for two of them :/ I am feeling this same sort of drive or pull to go to the Treasure House here in the town where I live. This time I have asked for the titles correctly. I have come to the conclusion that if I am trying to manifest these books, chasing after them as it were, that I would be interfering with the Source. That I should just do what I normally do. I have wanted to go to Goodwill for a long time now. I don't have a car so I don't get out to shop much. Need a winter coat and they do have a lot of books there for cheap. Along the same lines I want to go to the Treasure House. It is also a thrift store. I still need a winter coat. Also thought I would look for a Singing Bowl. The point being that I don't normally go to these places. They are places I like to go and would usually request trips to when my father is available to drive me, but otherwise I would not go. Lately my father has been busy working at the church. He drives a fancy Hyundai, so this is why I ask him to drive me, because the car would be hard to replace, it was my mom's parent's car. So it is rare for me to drive around in this $25,000+ vehicle which is their only one. But my dad has taken a trip to California, so the car is mine for a few days. I still need to be respectful, if my mom says I can't drive it to these places then I may decide to honor her. I know that force applied in any way towards the manifestation I am focused on is also interference. So I have come to the conclusion that this is some inner, subconscious or habitual mind driven impulse, this drawing/pulling towards Treasure House and another little oddball store that might have things like Singing Bowls in the area. It is a fear-based response. It is the little me, my ego, the false self, trying in some way to make the thing happen I am focused on. The best response is to ignore it for now. I may go later after I get some more sleep and drop my mom off tonight. By refusing to listen to this drive/pull for now, by refusing to respond to it, I hope to get a clearer reading as to what it is. Right now all I have is guesswork. My track record is that every time I feel this it proves to be useless if acted upon. An example... I walk past a board with information on it about local events on my way to the restroom. I make a mental note to stop and look at it. I leave the restroom, go past it, forget to look, get most of the way to the parking lot, feel suddenly that I must look at it, that I might have missed something (fear) so I turn back, even though at some level I know its useless (which, if this were intuition, would block me, I have to address this negativity.) I go back and, just as I suspected, there was no reason to do so. This is an example of how this sense operates. I don't think it has ever been right! So my question is how to tell between the drive/pull of this useless sense, most likely based on fear, most likely a tool of the ego, and true intuition, that true gut feeling? For you NCIS fans, that famous Gibb's Gut? I know that intuition is the voice of the Source, AKA God, speaking to me. I know what intuition is, I know it is important to listen to it, but how do I separate that voice from this very similar drive/pull coming from fear? Heck, I am not even sure I have ever really heard the voice of intuition, so I don't even know what it sounds like! I would really appreciate some guidance here from those who hear and know the voice the intuition. What does it sound like and how can you tell it is intuition and not something else? Thanks for your help! - Mark

Thank you. So if it is intuition, there should be no emotion. Intuition is Spock, instinct is James Kirk. To change channels, as it were, to where I am listening to my intuition and not a voice of fear, I simply need to stop listening to anything coming from inside that is driven by emotion. Is that about right?

This is based on the teachings of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Neville-Goddard/dp/0875168256/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387097029&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=nevill+resurrection As well as the Christian Bible, where it talks about how a curse will come back to you if you send it out and it is unmerited, and the "where two or more are gathered together..." Here is the idea in a nutshell... You receive what you give. Once you give something, you make yourself open to receiving it. So, if you were to give out anger to someone, you leave yourself open to receiving anger in return. Hence you end up with an argument. But there's a little more to this than that... A person is more receptive when they are not conscious of the receiving. In our argument example chances are you don't realize you are leaving yourself open to receiving anger by giving it out, there's not a lot of consciousness or awareness going on, so it works. But if you were Mr. Scrooge, to use a holiday example, and I walked up to you and said, "Blessings To You This Christmas" you would say "Bah Humbug!" and the blessing would bounce off you and back to me. But let's say you are sleeping one night, and maybe you aren't entirely a Scrooge. There is a crack there where you might, in some certain circumstance, bless someone. So I send out my blessing to you late at night while you sleep and it enters that little crack and sets to work on manifesting in your life in some way. No crack, no blessing. So you have to be willing to give out whatever it is someone wants to give you. If you can't give it, you can't receive it. With me so far? As you can see you really need to watch what you think or say about people, because if you sent out a negative thought towards someone who is incapable of giving that same negative thought, it will come back and bite you in the arse! So if you are miserable the first thing to do is look inside. What have you been saying to yourself? How do you feel? What kinds of energies have you sent out to others? It wasn't all that long ago that I would see a couple walking hand in hand and my thoughts were not very kind. I felt like the Grinch at Christmas. The consequences of my action? My mindset, thoughts, beliefs and programming? I'm 38 years old and not only have I been single and unmarried all my life, I am still a virgin (not by choice), I haven't even been a real date and I certainly have nobody's hand to hold at this moment! I know that was a little personal. I didn't need to say all of that. But I wanted to give you this as a warning. An extreme case of the kind of things that could happen to you. You get what you give. You give what you get. Thankfully I stopped feeling that way and now when I see a couple walking I smile and am happy for them. I am still alone at present, but not for long, I am sure! This thread is all about tapping into this power in a group setting. It's an experiment, meaning the recipients must post replies and keep everyone up-to-date on what is happening as a result of their involvement with the group. We're proving that this idea works, so we can use it for the benefit of others and ourselves. So here's the plan, which can be adjusted as needed. If you want to participate, post what you would like to receive. Also post a picture so we know who to send this to. How do we do that? Neville describes a few types of mental “seeing.” There is mental hearing, mental sight and mental action. From my own person experience you may be able to do one or any combination of these at various strengths. I am mental sight and action, with a presently weak ability for mental hearing. I can see things in my mind's eye as clearly as I can see things in the physical world. So I will take one or two requests, write what I call a visualization script, that is basically like a movie I will play in my head, answering the request. You may do something similar. Now it is not enough to just see. You will have to practice mental hearing. Because you are going to have a conversation with the image of whoever it is you are visualizing something for. You will see them receive this, hear them thank you, maybe shake their hand, maybe have a discussion, maybe get a tearful hug. Do not force here. Keep your script, if you make one, basic. Let things flow naturally. Do not use force. Don't be Alfred Hitchcock in the Director's Chair. Your script is more like a vague description of some movie you would like to remember. You are asking the energy I call Source, which you may call Tao, God, Buddha or something or someone else, if they remember this movie. They go “Ah Ha!” and it begins to play. Understand? Less manufacturing, more allowing. Probably what is actually going on here is a sort of premonition. A collection of scenes of what could happen, given the person, what you are giving them, and yourself as the sender. You are basically seeing a glimpse of one possible future. That would be my guess anyhow. Anyhow there is no need to dwell on that, and its OK if you don't agree or see things differently. We can start a whole new thread for that if you want. The main point here is there is something you want in your life, so you will post your request and a picture of yourself and someone, or several someone's, will take your case and send you the requested thing (BTW we need a picture of you, full body, so we can clearly see you in our mind's eye.) They will silently set to work envisioning your receiving of the requested thing. They will not post in this thread. We will use the, “...pray in closet...” mentality here. So you will not know who is sending you the requested thing. But you will come in and give a progress report after the request has been answered. A progress report, not a complaint, not an “Is it here yet?” Just let us know if your request has been granted and provide as many details of the granting as is comfortable and appropriate. Yes, any request may be asked here. But keep in mind how this thing may work and be very careful how you word things! The last step is for all parties to give thanks, before and after the request has been granted! This is very important! Make your request, then forget about it. Just make a mental note to tell us when it has been granted. As you proceed through your life give thanks for this request as if you already have it. Feel as if you have it. Also be thankful for any related things. If you are asking for healing for cancer in your lungs, spend time every day being thankful for your stomach, kidneys and heart working so well! Understand? For example, Michael Bernard Beckwith, in “Spiritual Liberation”, says take time to give thanks for your kidneys every time you use the restroom. PP time. The restroom is the perfect place for a prayer of thanks. I tell myself, when I am sitting on the throne, that I easily release everything which I need to let go. OK, I think that covers it! I will start the ball rolling with my request: I am requesting mastery, not control (all control is rooted in fear), over my sexual urges. Now I know this is sort of a tricky and possibly icky thing to work with, so here are some ideas as to how you can help me with this. You can picture me sitting at the computer, staring at the Bing search screen, knowing that I am thinking about searching for some pornography. You can picture me shaking my head no, saying no. You can have a conversation with me about it. Maybe you have your hand on my shoulder and are telling me about how self-destructive this could be. Maybe you are sharing your own personal experience. Whatever works for you. But we have a conversation about this. You can imagine the desire to search and any thought of searching leave my mind. Maybe picture me turning off the TV, pulling out my meditation pad (a folded orange blanket under a pillow with an orange case, one side specked with mold stains – long story) and meditating. Another possibility is if you are a male, you know when the desire comes over you. Picture me sitting there, the desire coming over me. You know how that feels, I assure you that feeling is probably universal for all human males who are not celibate. Anyhow imagine that feeling just evaporating. Dissipating. Disappearing. Maybe see it as a pink fog rising out of my body, dissolving in pure white light. Or maybe you have a healthy, positive high-vibration way you deal with it. If its not too personal for you, imagine me dealing with it using the same method, maybe even following you teaching me. If the whole sexual urge thing is too much and you don't want to touch that with a 10 foot pole that's OK. I love and accept you as you are, and bless you just the same. You may use this secondary request if you wish. I would like to find, as soon as possible, enjoyable, fulfilling, meaningful and well-paying work! Until I have that I would love to have some extra money to do some last minute Christmas shopping with! That one should be easy to deal with. Pretty much all of us want the same thing, so I will not give you pointers here, but you may ask for some if you would still like them. Here's a pic of me: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=628039680593037&set=a.483508301712843.117126.100001610314806&type=3&theater However you choose to help use your words, your unique way of thinking and talking. Take anything I have said as a suggestion only. If others have personal issues and assign some guidelines to help you, follow them in your own way. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for any request you may send out for others or myself. Blessings and love to all who read this thread, whether they participate or not! I am looking forward to your requests and reading about their manifestation in your lives!

When I saw it I thought it looked like a dragon's head.