Gili Trawangan

@Preetom Some understanding must come eventually, otherwise what would be all the fuss about enlightenment?

@Preetom In that case, I just don't know what everyone around here is always talking about being God, being infinite... They talk as if reality is understood, entirely. That's just not my experience and I have to admit it would be rather disappointing to the ego if no metaphysical questions were ever answered.

@winterknight Great text!! I found it tremendously useful. I do have a question. I have been at that place where there is an incredible sense of peace and once that happens there are no questions to be asked, indeed. However, I can say that there is peace there, but not clarity. When the mind comes back I don't know anything more about reality than I did before. I don't understand what happened. There is no realization, there is only peace. It just doesn't answer any questions, what the heck am I? Will some kind of revelation come once I'm able to stay there longer?

@mandyjw Do you mind me asking what was the insight?

What about the role that caffeine addiction plays? I'm not able to get through the day without coffee because I'm addicted. It would take me at least a week to drop the addiction and I can't afford to lose an entire week so I just keep taking it. Plus I enjoy it

@Mikael89 It doesn't sound like you're in a position to be picky. But hey, more power to you.

Wonderful!

@Mikael89 All that a man (by human you obviously mean men specifically, women can get sex whenever they want) needs to get sex is resourcefulness. And I think animals need that too, except for them resourcefulness is instinctual. I'll give you an example: some men have trouble attracting women where they currently are. If they are resourceful, they will think of their options and act accordingly: they can learn seduction, they can go to the gym and improve their looks, they can travel to another country where they are naturally seen as more attractive (an overlooked option by many that can solve your dating issues overnight), etc. There is not much difference.

Would love to do psychoanalysis, but where I am it is incredibly expensive, no way I can afford it. Plus, there's always a trust issue that arises for me, what if the therapist isn't good to begin with? How can I know?

@Shakazulu I do it just like described in the Stevens book. I've just learned it myself, don't even know if I'm doing it right. I do feel a lot of energy in the chakras but it's similar to what I get from Om Japa. Do you have the book?

@Neorez Thanks a lot for the explanation!

@Neorez Thanks, will try. But what is the wim hof method? I can't really use google now, but I'll check it out later!

@Psyche_92 I was afraid someone might say that

Thanks for this thread, I actually tried having a cold shower today Hasn't helped with soothing the mind, I'm still feeling a lot of resistance against doing my spiritual practices...

I still follow some of Mooji's guided meditations because his phrasing and pointings are helpful sometimes. But I cringe when watching the relationship between him and his so called disciples. I'm absolutely convinced that there is truth to the sex stories, he has a huge shadow there, I can sense it. It takes one to know one, I have it too and that's how I can spot it. I have no knowledge of any details, it's just intuition.

@Cuddy5269 Well, there are benefits to spiritual practices even if enlightenment doesn't happen. More peace and acceptance, better health, etc. But you have to trust that your understanding will grow... and it will.

@Inliytened1 Thanks a lot

@Robi Steel Yeah that makes sense to me. @zeroISinfinity I don't know, I need to ponder on what you wrote; it sounds bleak, that's my first reaction...

Also, I've had plenty of suffering, that's what led me to spirituality in the first place

@Inliytened1 I've been meditating for five years but only started to do it seriously less than a year ago. I did concentration for a while (focusing on the breath), Vipassana (stopped it after a while) and then just went for relaxing attention and just letting go. These days that's mostly what I do, just try to get to a state of no mind by relaxing attention. I also do self-inquiry which, if I'm not mistaken, brings you to the same place as the meditation I described, a state of just awareness with no identity.

@zeroISinfinity Do you feel no need at all for what people usually refer to as "human connection"? I'm genuinely interested, seeing that I also seem to have no interest in talking with people, but am still conflicted about it. Like I should want to.

@Inliytened1 If you don't mind me asking, how did you arrive to this realization? I really want to get there but it's not working so far...

This is precisely his problem. He's been a materialist very publicly for a long time and would lose his reputation if he went against that now. I'm only speculating that he has had experiences that have shown him otherwise. I agree that if we only look at what he says publicly it makes no sense.

Haha, here we go. @Jkris Just don't get married, man. People know the deal when they go into it. Or at least they should...

@Leo Gura I think Sam Harris understands more than he lets on... I've heard him say that consciousness is the only thing that we can be sure of. He has spoken of experiences of merging with reality. But he has been against religion so publicly for so long that he is afraid of losing his reputation. I think he has unwittingly put himself in a very difficult position.