Henri

It`s not about duration, it`s about quality. When you meditate three times a day for 10 minutes, that is much better than you are doing right now. Longer meditation sessions will come when it`s time; do not rush, do not force, be gentle and kind. @Psychonaut

Hi Michael, quite a question mate... My advice to you at your age would be to learn hatha yoga. It is very easy to learn this when you are young and gives you a really strong body. The benefits will be amazing for future actualizing stuff. For the body nothing compares with it. Your meditation habit will give you very soon the benefit of a strong concentration. This is important for you to learn and read as much as possible. Take first books and topics you are naturally interested in, the rest will simply follow. Try to find some company to do sports with or meditation or study, whatever. It is important to find some friends who share some of your interests. @Michael C

Totally agree.... Though I got warned and banned for saying things like that!

google.com

One who is defeated is not able to surrender. Surrendering requires strength. Meaning of surrendering in the different paths and ages.

@charlie2dogs Thank you for your post. I agree with everything you wrote down. A lot of so called `teachers` who never experienced enlightenment themselves. The, in a way, simplicity of enlightenment and what it means to `achieve` that enlightenment. I fully understand your need to share it with the readers here. Just sit down, embrace your inner being and so on, I agree it`s enough. It`s just that it is not for everyone. To do that one needs a certain `amount` of readiness of surrendering. And this surrendering is mostly the final step, so to speak, to enlightenment-experience. I repeat, everything you say is fine is good is right. But this willingness, readiness or how one can call it of the notion of surrendering is the `divine` key. And this is where all the different types of people come in. This is where all the different paths get in, the different experiences of life, cultures, temperaments, views, beliefs and so on. A follower and devotee of Krishna, practising Bhakti, will say it is the shortcut to enlightenment. And he is right. When you are able to do that total consciously it is a shortcut. It`s just not for everyone to be able to get that longing for the beloved one so intensive. This counts in a way for all the paths. There are people who get offended when you tell them it is very easy. Those people you have to tell to walk around the globe two times to get enlightened and they`ll do that. They need that to get to that state of surrender and letting go. But is that not the beauty of it all? One goal and so many different ways?

Atman/Brahman is without boundaries, truth is without boundaries and enlightenment is that realization.

You want to find a shaman, go to the jungle. You want to find a yogi, go to India. You want to find a master or teacher, check you tube. You want to find a Guru? Not possible... The Guru has to find you...

@ofekk There are people who do not believe in love. What does that tell you about love? What does it say about those people? Just be compassionate about it. Life is full with nonsense (meaning no-sense lol)

@Lorenzo Engel When you continue your spiritual work you`ll experience them for sure. One who searches for enlightenment will call it an enlightenment experience. One who seeks to join the beloved one, like a personal God, will call it a mystic experience. It`s everything beyond the personal experience, so the trans-personal. To be able to experience a mystic experience with the beloved God or deity, it`s advisable to contemplate on a quality of the beloved one. In most cases that will be just the love-factor, longing for the loved one. So meditate or contemplate on this. This you can do with every quality, like kindness, friendliness, sincerity, truth or whatever is your choice. Immerse in your meditation with one of these aspects. The meditation-object, the meditation and you will become one; that`s a mystic experience.

@Natura Sonoris This topic comes all the time in different forms back on this site. It`s a common problem to, especially, western people to build a good meditation practice, to stop the over-thinking and to be able to enjoy the fruits of your practice. In most cases I suggest to learn some pranayamas. This you`ll do before your meditation practice and is a tool to `dive` deeper and comfortably in your meditation without the `fight` with the scattering mind. However you mentioned that you have a lot of subconscious garbage from your past, so I would recommend you to do some cleansing stuff. There is a profound method called the Sudarshan Kriya given by The Art of Living. This NGO is in your country also. You can check out the website. Here you`ll learn some integral stuff meaning the body, the mind, the energy-body and the soul. Meditation will be joyful afterwards.

@fdrakely The amazing thing about western psychology is the element that there is no definition about what it is to be mentally healthy. To my opinion that is the reason that western society is invaded by the so called social psychologists, mental health is what socially is accepted. The same thing is with physical health, there is no definition. If you want to know more about the different aspects of the human psychological developmental lines check out Ken Wilber`s book on Integral Psychology. He gives answers to those questions you have in this great book.

B(e)-C(o)-M(e)

@MartineF Fighting the ego is an impossible job. Attention to the spiritual work, the good, the true and the beautiful, human values, serving others, loving others. The life will improve and become joyful. The ego will slowly dissolve. Do not fight it, you`ll fight an illusion.

@Lorenzo Engel Mystical states are the states and experiences you experience beyond ordinary human perception. It`s a union with the transcendence realms of reality or trans-personal realms. The word `mystic` is commonly used by the people who seek union with a personal God.

This is a great question! By developing and growing you become more aware, including the `unresolved` issues like your social development. The question rises if this is really necessary. I mean would you still consider it a problem with an increasing awareness? I think one can give many opinions on this one. To me an even much bigger issue would be that by raising the awareness one will face the problem of seeing immense opportunities that will one lead away from the developing and self-actualizing way. I guess many of us have faced one of these realities in life.

Most people do not remember events before the age of three years. That`s just because we think back and that we do in words. So it`s not possible to remember events the period before we learned to speak, before we learned words. An alternative is regression therapy to relive experiences at that age. @Falk

Pranayamas is the key, it brings you gently in the present moment where there is no room for stress. For example a few bastrika`s before the presentation and you`ll be fine. @mystic

Funny...

@jcgiusto A story about the limitations of so called teachers or newly `enlightened` ones... It illustrates beautifully the misconceptions there can be regarding `enlightenment`, `truth` and `non-dualism`. The guy is sharing his personal insights and his personal journey and beliefs, meanwhile `acting` all the time as the teacher. A good lesson for everyone considering who is a true teacher.

@JevinR Just a thought mate..., just a thought.

@Huzz88 When one is enlightened, indeed he can use any character to interface with the world. Loving to the ones who need it, caring, respectful, patient, silent, humourous, even angry when one needs it. He can radiate whatever is needed... This is no false identity, because there is no identity. There is just consciousness.

Few people know their talents, qualities and skills at 19. The most important thing to do is to develop as broad as possible, the rest will follow by itself. @Magnifico Meanwhile try to follow your passion or just the stuff you are mostly interested in. Your spiritual work will definitely help on this.

The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley Vedanta: Voice of Freedom by Swami Vivekananda Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig Lila: An Inquiry into Morals by Robert M. Pirsig The Science of Yoga by I.K. Taimni Bhagavad Gita by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada The Book of Secrets by Osho

@Enizeo That`s no problem and is mostly happening with people who are beginning with meditation. Stresses get released by meditating and you can easily fall asleep. The benefits of your meditation however will be there, even falling asleep. Continue your meditation and this will soon not happen anymore.