MuddyBoots

@Genghis Khan Hi, sorry for not replying sooner but thanks for your reply above. I have vaguely heard of Radha Soami, nothing negative so best wishes if you decide to go ahead, you obviously have a passion for understanding reality. Your unhappiness at work is also worth attention too, I'd suggest, even if you can find another job which is neutral or which you love, will reduce the negative energy.

Therefore you don't know the "teaching that we don't actually know anything." Tricky things, these statements that include everything. Because they include themselves.

Hi @Genghis Khan I understand you have a need for material wellbeing, and spiritual development. Who doesn't? But why should it be so black and white, one thing or the other? Can you forge a life path for yourself which honours all your needs: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, essentially your whole being? " I have recently been introduced to an underground spiritual organization dedicated to realizing God by a local psychic and I'm currently making a decision whether to pursue membership with this organization and fully dedicating my life to the path. " What requirements does this 'underground spiritual organization' have for your membership? As a new inquirer into the group, it rings an alarm bell to me, that they expect such a big decision; are you sure it isn't a cult? A loving community will allow you to attend without big commitments. Or is this an expression of your own feelings of a need for spiritual community?

There's a clue in the name ... 'trickle' ... which could be why that name's not used so much these days, it's such a give-away. Most of the world works like that of course, it's just a pity for you to have all those years of progress up to the 70s followed by a fallback to the bad old days.

We're all that dumb guy or gal worrying what other people think about us So that worrying we all do means we care about it in our private way. I remind myself I'm just an ordinary person every day, it's actually very liberating, not stupid al all, to shed our self-importance!

There is an ageing population in some countries more because straight people are having fewer kids, than an increase in LGBTQ+ people surely? There's no need to project this issue onto the other group. Why are us straights having fewer kids? I've not researched it, but this smells like it is connected with stage blue to orange transition. Like the rise in immigration, more workers are needed to feed the orange growth machine. Perhaps we're just now discovering the limitations of orange.

@milii you have an internal conflict (and most of us feel jealously to some degree so you're not really different to the rest of us), but it has spiralled out of control and your friends and other people are noticing. I agree with the other advice, on a deeper level you are a good catch as a friend and partner. You have some letting-go to do, releasing your jealousy into the past and embracing your true deep nature of loving kindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. Well, that's a Buddhist perspective. If your spirituality is a different perspective from this, there's other ways to approach it. Meditation is one good practice, what is yours? Do you have a spirituality you can rely on, now that you are going through a tough time? A wise person once told me that we should look after our religion during the good times so it's there when we need it in the difficult times. This jealousy could be masking your pain which you are holding onto from your previous relationship, releasing those feelings is a good place to start. If you haven't grieved yet for the breakup, you can express those emotions, instead of feeling jealous, how about reaching out to your best friend for a shoulder to cry on? If that's not an option, there's people here who can listen, although typing messages isn't the same as talking face to face.

@Hello from Russia I'm in a similar state to you, sitting on the fence. There seems to be different views about climate change expressed in the media, I'm not knowledgeable like @SidBySide to evaluate the evidence myself. When I was at school in the 60s and 70s the talk was about a new ice age freezing us, now we are scared with tales about global warming. There's vested interests profiting from renewable energy, and the extra taxes etc are regressive, targeting the poor. I'm respectful of good independent, disinterested science, but also sceptical of the political debate, especially extinction rebellion. Overall I'm confused and unsure what to do. One idea I've had, is that all this CO2 we are releasing into the air is just the same carbon which was taken out of the atmosphere during the carboniferous age. So, far from 'destroying the planet' as the environmental lobby claim, aren't we merely turning the clock back geologically to a previous era, which to be fair will probably favour plants over animals (more CO2 & less Oxygen). Also I thought the ozone layer was ok now, and repaired itself after we outlawed CFCs, or am I behind the times on that subject? I'm not a deliberate climate denier, just genuinely confused and looking for some unbiased information, if anyone here can help.

Hi @Equanimitize this is a good site, I've been looking for something like this for a while. Brexit has made me question all our regular news channels here in the UK. I use quora.com too, but that's a different type of site.

Hi @Sebiwert thanks for the post . The concept of sustainable development (SD) has been around for some time, I can remember it from the '80s but I think it's much older. And the UN didn't invent this idea, but has come on board now, if this clip is representative. It's a good idea because, even if you don't buy into the climate change agenda, our current technologies of fossil fuels and nuclear power won't last forever, they rely on mining non-replacible resources out of the ground. However, the UN video bundles social justice (SJ) into the same mix as SD. While I think they're both very worthwhile values, they aren't the same thing and SD won't automatically lead to SJ. After all, European medieval culture was pretty much sustainable environmentally, compared to us now, but there certainly wasn't fairness, equality and justice for all! Nick.

I saw a TV programme about a basic income pilot scheme in Finland a few years ago. They followed some participants, who all tried working in some way, while the experiment lasted. There's a lot more listed in Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income_around_the_world including, interestingly, Iran. Leo's point is valid too, freeloaders and scroungers aren't only an issue for welfare programmes, there's a few everywhere. Employees can 'swing the lead', take sickies etc. Rich people and corporations can exploit their employees and the tax system. Corrupt governments can fleece their population. The left argues that international trade is skewed against poor countries to get cheap labour, effectively freeloading off them. Libertarians themselves and free-market capitalism allows free-riding by some of the powerful over the powerless. Maybe socialism has free-riding by some of the powerless. I guess there's an inbuilt survival drive in the ego to get something for nothing, a free lunch. That's why we fall for con artists, pyramid- and get-rich-quick schemes, why betting is so addictive. As well as freeloaders, there's other people exploiting the freeloading impulse! But whatever our political system, we can do much to mitigate the problem, if we have the will. How many freeloaders are there really? It's also a problem if a small manageable issue is blown out of proportion for persuading us to change our political minds.

Thanks both, great answers @zeroISinfinity I'd say my desire for Truth doesn't come from my ego (which is scared of Truth!) but a deeper level which is rather, gently encouraging and urging me on, instead of desiring. I use regular ordinary techniques, they're powerful enough for me. @Eu Sint I'm finding there isn't much self to enquire into, mostly just awareness of sounds, sensations, thoughts etc. Probably because I usually meditate at night, in the dark when my ego is quieter anyway. So, the self-enquiry feels very similar to letting-go technique, only subtly different, perhaps this will change in the weeks ahead. I'm considering incorporating self-enquiry into daily life mindfulness practice, when my ego is more active, I have a clearer sense of self/other. Coming back to the 'aware of awareness', I don't really get that either. What it feels like is that awareness drops off and is replaced with suchness, isness. I'm wondering if those are just different names for 'aware of awareness' or something else.

Watching the breath can seem boring compared to whatever thoughts you may be having . This type of meditation belongs to the concentration category so yes, you're training that too. Like when you've got studying to do but would rather do something, anything else. My suggestion is to be kind to yourself, accept your laziness and carry on. Try and stretch yourself a little bit, within your comfort zone. Also, it helped me in the early stages to reach the occasional blissed-out state to motivate me to carry on. I still get bliss sometimes but it doesn't matter. Also, do you get enough aerobic exercise to burn off excess energy? That might help with the restlessness.

Not sure if it's too late for new posts here? But a new materialistic objection has occurred to me. The brain has something called Executive Function (EF) which I heard of recently, possibly located in the prefrontal regions of the frontal lobes. This could be what we mean by ego, self, will, the doer. What if spiritual work is really just retraining and rewiring the brain to reduce the dominance of the EF and change how the brain works. In this view, it's all going on inside our brains and tells us nothing about metaphysics and ultimate reality. Wikipedia quote below to define EF: "Executive functions (collectively referred to as executive function and cognitive control) are a set of cognitive processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior: selecting and successfully monitoring behaviors that facilitate the attainment of chosen goals. Executive functions include basic cognitive processes such as attentional control, cognitive inhibition, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. "

Distraction and restlessness isn't wrong, and I'd say 10 mins is fine for now if that's what you feel comfortable with. Everyone's mind is restless to some degree, the point as I see it, is to just watch your mind as it is, and gently return to the breath when you notice you've wandered. See the movement, and let it go. You don’t need to judge individual sessions as good or bad, you are training your mind in self-awareness using the breath as an anchor (in this technique). Your distractions and your worries about not being good enough are like clouds drifting past. Just watch it all and you're doing great!

Just saw your new journal, I'll try not to be a distraction Great that good things are happening for you. I checked out the book review for The Power (The Secret) it says "the power to have anything you want" oh that sounds a bit scary, do we want the right things? What's that saying about being careful what you wish for ....

yes it does sound powerful, the intensity of it is working well for you

Ha ha, yes that's a good lesson for us all, other people's wisdom doesn't mean much till we can put it into practice ourselves

Nice post Bill! IMO the most critical people have the most to hide in themselves We can usually tell if feedback is constructive and positive or not. @Anna1 I like how you did that google search too! Nick.

@ardacigin Thanks for sharing, fascinating to read even though I'm not able to try it. How does it fit in with your regular everyday practice, is that hardcore too or or more easy-going? Have you thought about writing a journal to share in an ongoing way? I was also wondering about the acronyms, thanks for explaining that too!

I'm just starting with self-enquiry, it seems like this is very similar to choiceless awareness, but going the other direction. Either use the self to let go of clinging and move into non-self; or use the self to look into itself, which is also non-self. The paradox is making me spin! Ill try watching Leo's video on self-enquiry.

What comes across to me is that intellectual compatibility is a big priority for you. There's nothing wrong in that as such, but maybe as part of your development you could focus on the other aspects to balance it out, like emotional and intuitive? Boredom is a common problem, it's the restless monkey mind, does your spiritual practice help with this, eg meditation or mindfulness? Also, do you have a life purpose to focus your energies, from what you say above you have this slightly abstract ambition of progressing through the colours of Spiral Dynamics, but why? What's the meaning or passion in your life?

We're into October and guess what, I missed my deadline! Problem is, having done some research, I've found 3 different meditations which are too many all at once, so I need to prioritise. They are: 1. Self-enquiry. To gain better awareness of the self sensation and how it relates to non-self (everything else). 2. Body scan. I haven't been doing this too much lately, it occurred to me it may be a better alternative for equanimity than the usual sublime abodes (which I never really got on with). Also for a more focused attention, rather than total awareness with (being) meditation. 3. Awareness of navel (the classic stereotype of contemplating my navel) as alternative to mindfulness of breathing. Relaxation, tranquillity, centreing, getting out of my head and into my body for a short while. I'll start with self-enquiry for October as my evening sitting, morning sitting is still letting go (not clinging / (being)). Then review early Nov. Either continue or try one of the others.

I'm starting an Actualized journal today after thinking about it for a while. Spiritual Ramblings has a double meaning: of walking on a journey and also waffling on; I expect to do both and everyone can decide for themselves which is which Walking in the local countryside is more than just a hobby, I seek out the wilderness (such as it is in England) to connect with eternal nature, it is my second home. Hence my username. I have been meditating for 39 years, on and off, in various traditions. Don't know whether to bore you with the details, let's see how it goes, but I have got a practice which suits me at present although I suspect I may be at risk of coasting at the moment. Issue 1. How to know if I'm a slow developer, or is this is where I need to be right now? I don't feel enlightened or think I've reached any high states, but don't have a problem with that, life is good these days. Or perhaps enlightenment in my case is just a very gentle contentedness and deepening peacefulness, rather than a radical revolutionary thing. I get glimpses of egolessness / unity / non-dualism - is that what I should focus on, or are other things more important at the moment? Issue 2. I've learned a variety of techniques, and I'm not currently following a teacher, so decide for myself what practice to do. Hopefully this journal will reflect that and assist me. One of my previous teachers, Andrew Quernmore of vipassana.com, suggested journalling at least monthly to review the situation and help decide any changes or tweaks. Other teachers would just give me instructions which weren't really up for discussion. I've actually flipped between belonging to groups and going solo, so far Actualized.org seems a good mixture of being in a group and keeping my own authority, instead of being just a passive follower. Issue 3. Actually all my other issues bundled up for brevity. Family life is important, so how to integrate all my roles like husband, father etc with my spirituality. I've got some plans for healthy living such as losing a bit of weight, detoxing some, keeping fit. My job, an office job which I love, is on track and hopefully secure, my ambitions extend to maybe getting one more promotion before I retire. But it's fine if I don't. Nick.

I agree that debt is a big factor, I'm paying mine off as quickly as possible. But in general, cycles of boom & bust is how capitalism is supposed to work anyway, fuelled by greed and fear.