Raptorsin7

I have a question about my stage of meditation practice. I've been listening to a lot of neo-advaita teachers like Rupert Spira, Fred Davis etc and I believe I understand the essence of the teaching. Awareness is always aware, no matter what's happening there is always this presence of awareness. I have moments where I feel I really understand the teachings, and I'm just resting as awareness, and I can feel physical shifts occurring in my body. The nature of our presence is supposed to be peace and happiness, but I don't experience that when I listen to advaita teachings. Rupert talks about how at first the self is experienced as dull/boring and then overtime it flourishes into peace and happiness, but it's still a frustrating place to be at. I notice i procrastinate a lot and I have a lot of resistance to just sitting down and being/meditating. Has anyone gone through this phase? How do you bridge to the gap so the presence we all experience can be experienced/realized as peace/happiness/love

@Zeroguy What point of your practice did your heart open up?

@allislove Yeah I listen to guided meditations a lot. It's really useful when someone is constantly pointing you back to awareness when you get distracted.

Thanks veganawake. I know i'm this, but i want to know when this is going to start being felt as bliss and peace. @allislove Yeah makes sense. I have had many sessions recently where I feel myself on the verge of a deep surrender to the now but then i just get up and pat myself on the back haha. I'm trying to be more diligent and get myself on the cushion more i think it's only a matter of time now.

@mandyjw But from a meditating perspective isn't wouldn't I just be seeking objects and sensations and overlooking. Wouldn't it be better to simply rest as awareness and go right to the source rather than try and seek pleasant sensations through thoughts. It seems like that would just perpetuate the seeking self while I try to look for appreciation all the while overlooking awareness. One thing i've found helpful is the pointer about how there's nothing wrong with experience. I don't know if it's what you had in mind, but I think one my problems is I have always have this sense of something wrong with me/the world, and on my good psych trips a common theme is always the realization that there is no-thing wrong with experience. I think this points back to inherent no-problemness of awareness

From my understanding, there are no states or stages of consciousness because consciousness is just what is already. The inherent aliveness and awareness/presence is always available and so it's prior to any state or stage. But I think it's a bit misleading to say there are no states or stages as well. In this video rupert discusses what he calls the 2nd stage of practice where the seeker investigates the nature of the awareness. Most people want the peace and happiness that comes from investigating the nature of the self, and since most people aren't happy while seeking it makes sense to me to consider the path in stages until they reach a point of their practice where they are satisfied and happy. I agree we are experiencing the true nature of happiness which is the awareness, but to go from there to actual happiness/peace can be viewed as a stage above I think. I have a lot of conditions but I don't expect to fulfill them to find happiness. I think at this point it's about spending more time on the cushion and really sinking into the awareness without getting distracted by objects, and seeing how my own activity of the mind is constantly getting in the way so to speak. I definitely know what i'm looking for from my lsd trips, i'd say i'm looking for the same kind of shift in my meditation practice. The criteria would be if you ask me am I happy, and I honestly respond yes I feel very happy with my experience. Right now I can't say that

@allislove This doesn't feel like bliss and peace though. I am aware, or awareness is aware, but it doesn't lead to any meaningful change in my experience. If this is it, and it's always just this, what does it take for the bliss to come from that pointer? @The Buddha Rupert calls the nature of the self peace/happiness. I think if a person were in pure bliss they would count themselves as pretty happy and satisfied.

@Preety_India Yeah I resonate with a lot of what you wrote. I think i'm guilty of a lot of the charges against Indian men in general as well. I know for a fact I have deep seated hatred towards my mother and a lot towards my grandma too, who I grew up with, as sad/strange as it is I'd say if there's one person I truly have hatred for on this earth it's my mother. I wonder if I can resolve my hate towards my mother and grandma how that will change my dating preferences

Hey I'm curious to hear opinions about my situation and create a discussion around beauty standards and how it affects people of color or people who don't fit into the conventional standards of beauty. I'm an Indian male and for as long as I can I remember I've always found woman of other races more desirable than woman of my own race. Over time I'd found more and more Indian woman I found attractive, but when I fantasize about a potential partner I feel a repulsion to Indian woman. When I see a very attractive Chinese/European/Spanish etc I find it easy to imagine an awesome loving relationship. When I was younger I was very insecure about my looks and thought I was ugly, but I overcame that too some extent and now I think I'm pretty attractive and could be with whoever I want, and i think the rise in my own self esteem led to me find more indian woman attractive, but still there is some block. I think the root of this is an underlying self hatred from growing up an ethnic minority in a western country, but I wonder if there's more going on too that i'm unaware of. My parents also have unloving relationship (arranged marriage) and woman in my family as very conservative and I have an underlying resentment for most, if not all, my female relatives. Sometimes I wonder if I should just accept my preference and count myself lucky I live in an open society that allows me to date whoever I want. I could see myself being in a happy relationship with a woman of a different ethnicity, but part of me does worry about being labeled as a self hating person who dates out of their race due to feeling inferior. My hope is to deal with the underlying self hatred and then see what remains of my dating preference. But how much can preference change? For example I find loud, large, masculine woman very unattractive, the same way a woman in Korea might find dark skin indian men very unattractive, who's to say that isn't right and each person is entitled to their own preference? I feel very fortunate that I live in the West and not Asia so my ethnicity and skin color aren't major detriments. I've heard stories of Indian men in Japan/Korea who are viewed very negatively given the preference for light skin. It's a bitter irony but I do feel a resentment towards those cultures for having a negative view of my people, but then i also recognize my own dating prejudices and laugh haha. Any other thoughts?

@karkaore No i mean think about dating interracially and the beauty/cultural standards associated with it. Some people may have never thought about this, whereas others may be more sensitive to this fact and it may influence how they date

@karkaore Have you found your abilities increase too as your consciousness. Have you found yourself more coordinated, intelligent, creative, athletic?

Also, Do non-ethnic minority people ever think about this stuff when it comes to dating? I think if I weren't a minority I probably wouldn't even consider this, maybe that's why white people are more likely to date outside their race. It seems like the dominant cultural group would be the least likely to care, but it's also possible that dating interracially carries a stigma in a person's social group. Part of me doesn't want to let go of my attractive preference. I remember thinking wouldn't it be great if I found ugly woman incredibly attractive too, but I had some resistance to the idea. I do think it's possible to just view everything as amazing and beautiful though. I think about tv shows/animes where the artists can make everyone good looking. Humans are the same, we just have a bunch of beliefs and conditions around beauty.

@karkaore Very cool. One of my friends told me a story about how he woke just radiating love and when he went to work he felt like kissing everyone haha, but he knew he had to check himself, he was also into consciousness work.

@Michael569 What do you think caused it to slow down? Also why do you think it's not possible to reverse it?

@freejoy I've looked into that stuff in the past it's mildly affective at best. I'm curious if living a pure and healthy lifestyle could prevent it, but if not i'd rather let it go.

@soos_mite_ah On the forum people are protected by anonymity so they are free to be more true to their actual feelings and thoughts. When you meet someone in person, i'd say the vast majority of the time you're dealing with someone who has their guard up and is very sensitive to how they are coming across. Also what kind of men are you interacting with in person? Students, professionals, etc? @Emerald @soos_mite_ah What percentage of men do you consider high status/worthy of relationship? Yeah, especially if said woman wants to date a high value man. Everyone has different definitions of high status, but the people I know in my life with money/looks as men are almost all interested in some degree to looks. I'd be shocked to meet a guy I respected highly who said they would be fully content with a conventionally unattractive girl. I know I have a lot of immaturity issues so things could change, but unless I feel a strong pull towards a woman from their looks/vibe I wouldn't even look twice. I feel like i'm pretty typical for most young men, but if everyone had my attraction preference no one would be in relationships. Maybe that's why so few young people are in relationships haha

@Forestluv Yeah i get that feeling too. I've had a few experiences on lsd where I felt like a psychiatric patient in a hospital haha. On the otherside of the nausea/sickness etc is bliss and a total change in identity though which is awesome, i don't think I would have known about this if not for psychedelic's

@trenton If you are aware then you can awaken. Everyone who is a someone can find happiness through spiritual practice

@Forestluv @trenton Of the past like 10 LSD trips i've gotten seriously nauseous and vomitted. I think medically it would be considered psychedelic resistant but I recognize the nausea as a sort of psychological block. I think it's fair to say that when a person is fully awake/healed etc they would have no problem with psychs

I think we over emphasize the power of psychs on this forum and underemphasize the power of self inquiry/meditation.

@Leo GuraSo awakening is only for the lucky few who are genetically gifted?

I know that I have a lot of racial bias and racist beliefs/ideas and it seems like most, if not all, people have some racial bias. For me it's clear with woman, there are some ethnic groups I find clearly more than others. There are a few more examples, but the type of racism isn't really the point here. Can anyone here honestly say they have no racial bias in any circumstance. I consider racial bias in dating preference to be a form of racism but I guess there could be some cases where a person has a bias that isn't racist. I've seen some people here claim that ethnic preference isn't racist, but if you have an ethnic group and the vast majority find their ethnicity undesirable I think that should be analyzed as a racial issue, but feel free to disagree. I'm assuming that my racist tendencies will lessen the more I grow but I wonder if all of it will be wiped away. Has anyone hadtheir racial paradigm shattered in a major way? Maybe you thought x group was bad in some way but now have turned completely and now said group is considered great or something. Sorry(but not really) for clickbait title haha

@mandyjw @fish Make sure you find your heart first

The System of spiritual seekers

@Rilles There are an infinite amount of systems