snowyowl

Hi, letting go can bring up fears of losing control, losing grip, losing yourself. My old Zen teacher Myokyo-ni used an analogy of learning to swim. It's fear of the unknown, of being swallowed up by the water, drowning and dying. The separate ego feels out of its depth and out of its element. The practice is to 'give yourself to the water', relax into it and learn to float. As beginners we learn in the shallow end, so when the fear kicks in, our foot goes down onto solid ground and we feel safe again. We practice over and over again until the fear subsidies, we trust, relax, float. The sages tell us there is no solid ground to anchor ourselves, the depth goes on and on. Whoa, I'm not there yet either! The moral is, to find a practice which suits your level, gives you room for development, but not too scary and traumatic. Take care, keep safe and good luck. There's a huge variety of practices, so feel free to experiment if your current ones don't feel right.

@Vibroverse I'd say the senses are awareness, direct raw reality. But thoughts are different, they exist as energy movements in the mind, but are abstract pointing, representation, stories. Thought is what turns the primal being-ness of sensation into the imaginary objective world 'out there'.

@Mosess you're wanting a non-dual experience which lasts longer before you're 'sucked back into duality'? It may not be what you want to hear, but my suggestion is patience. Keep practicing, gratefully accept what you already have, and that the process is working in just the right way. Out of interest, how long have you been going? PS I'm not claiming to be awakened, so feel free to ignore me lol

You could see actualized.org as Leo's story towards enlightenment. Even though he doesn't claim to be fully enlightened he's had some deep awakenings along the way, some are even captured on video in his youtube channel.

reminds me of when I was on holiday in Turkey and was mistaken for a local, because I have a slightly darker complexion than most other Brits there, and no tattoos!

@BipolarGrowth so why did you stop meditating regularly after your two satoris? Having that level of insight from only one month of serious meditation shows you're a real natural. I wonder if like me, the problem isn't so much a lack of motivation but ego backlash holding you back from going deeper. Resources - well I know how to meditate by now, but I'm starting reading The Mind Illuminated as this year's project, to hopefully bring some more structure to my practice. Benefits - where do I start. Mental clarity, relaxation on all levels, physical, mental, etc. Expansiveness and spaciousness. Mystical experience of oneness.

@Heaven yeah there can be some scary moments, I'm like you, scale back if it gets intense. Others like a more hardcore practice and stick with it. Truth is patient, waiting for us to be ready

@Nahm I'm pretty introverted, to myself, introspecting. I don't think I even have a 'personality' until I'm linking with another, extrospecting, if you will. Similarly, I-ness only arises when there's comparison with another. Playing with the children, we take on roles and have some fun. Next moment I may be in a meeting at work and be a serious worker. I have many ways of relating, being a person-ality with all sorts of others. Even though, this is the relative level of life.

Yes, nice. The body/mind is perfectly capable of doing lots of things without needing an ego or doer to control it. It seems like we need a doer when learning new things, like when you were a kid at school concentrating hard at writing, or playing music, until it flows by itself. But that concentration and willpower still isn't a real doer, but the illusion is stronger.

@Javfly33 @Nahm @RedLine it's not exactly like talking to myself, more like there's no self, no-one talking. Talking and listening just happen, appear out of oneness. When I have the ego thought, it's weaker than it used to be when I was younger, because I know it's no more real than a thought. I'm still perfectly functional, but I have some residual fear about losing my personality or something, even though it's still here. I feel a calling to be a person with these identities for supporting and loving my family, that's my life purpose really.

I'm not sure what's meant by baseline consciousness either. But my background is I've been meditating on and off for 40 years, a mixture of mantra, awareness of breathing, vipassana, do nothing / resting in being. My consciousness slips between dual and non-dual states in its own time. Not only during meditation but any time of day, my sense of self comes and goes. I spend more time as an ego while I'm awake though; I don't want it to disappear entirely because I've got a regular life and identity as a husband, father, employee etc to keep up!

@Nahm I'm aware of, can feel, the maleness of my body/mind. But, is awareness itself free from the forms it contains, or is it one with the form, the masculinity or femininity? If it's all one, then I don't see how I can lose my identity while I'm alive as a man.

You choose your own racial identity, it's not assigned to you by the authorities, except for extreme cases like apartheid South Africa. So the answer to both questions above is to ask the individual people themselves. I've stopped guessing anyone's race just from looking at them.

This makes it sound like a stage red scheme to promote one individual to be the chief of the new Islamic tribe. From a spiritual rather than political point of view, what's the goal of Islam? Rather than copying the founder's lifestyle, isn't it important to have our own experience of God, our own revelation, for us all to become prophets? The idea of Mohammed as the final prophet is the hardest thing for me to accept.

@Mesopotamian I just don't get this. The Quran isn't really a book about Mohammed, a biography of his life, but an alleged description of his visions. It was written down by other people and compiled after his death (according to the unprovable tradition). What you're saying sounds like your own belief system. Which you're perfectly free to have of course, but why not own it?

@Alsu i'm just getting started with Headspace, but I don't have enough experience yet to give feedback. Also Actualized channel, and I'm starting to read The Mind Illuminated (ok that's a book, does it count?).

I get what you're saying, in fact Leo elsewhere is an advocate of big government to provide decent public services like education, health, welfare etc. As well as keeping the private businesses in check. That needs talented people to work in the public sector, big organisations, as employees rather than starting their own business. 'Wage slave' is a loaded term, and doesn't apply to everyone. I'm very happy working for a big public sector organisation myself. The ancient Greeks had it right: know thyself.

Islam is itself a child of Judaism, Sunni & Shia are two of Islam's children. Wow, family feuds can be the worst can't they? Why not just live and let live? @Mesopotamian you have your own faith, Shia's have theirs, covering themselves in blood and flagellation is a bit hard core I'll admit, but it doesn't hurt anyone else.

Not engaging the mind sounds rather like meditation? If it's a source of happiness that's awesome, keep at it. Also I would reconsider the psychologist's help, it may be materialistic but it's still important to learn the lessons of stage orange before you progress to green, otherwise it leaves a shadow of unfulfilled potential. That's my humble opinion anyway, or you could try a different therapist if you don't click with the first one.

@Dunnel Really sorry to hear you're going through this man, no-one deserves to suffer like this. Been depressed myself in the past, I totally understand you're desperate to find a way out of the pain of the OCD. That's what the suicidal thoughts are about, wanting to end the suffering, not your life. Have you had any professional help? Please try and accept whatever you can. Nahm is an angel in disguise, I hope you can find a way to chat with him. Think of what your life could be like in a few years time, if the suffering is gone, what is your dream, your life purpose? I'm sure there is a shining star to follow if you give life a chance. Also I see you live in Norway, are you getting enough sunlight on your skin? Maybe some light therapy and vitamin D would help?

Be careful what you wish for, if your modern-day magic spell (imagining and willing something to happen) is successful, who will replace them? Who will they move next to & cause trouble for? AKA the law of unintended consequences ...

oh that's easy, I'll tell you. They give you a mantra from the list with a Hindu puja ceremony: https://onhighroads.com/transcendental-meditation-mantras/ Mine was aing. You repeat the mantra silently for 20 mins twice per day while sitting down. unlikely nowadays as it's so easy to research on the internet. But then, TM isn't new, just the marketing with pop stars (the Beatles) and the science, which could apply to most techniques but is presented as being unique to TM.

@Cireeric good luck I hope you find one which works well for you. TM is a perfectly valid technique, I just wish you didn't have to pay a big lump sum up front. Anyways, there's lots to explore and experiment with to find your right path. Let's all keep an open mind

@Cireeric funny thing is, the official sources talk a lot about TM without telling you what it is, how to do it. You need to pay a lot of money for that, but what you get (as a beginner) is a standard mantra meditation. I learned it in the 80s, my first meditation practice. There's a previous thread about TM, I'll have a look ... Edit

@Husseinisdoingfine I'm thinking of Socialism as something like the state control & ownership of the means of production. It's a sliding scale, I mean obvs the state can't do everything for me, but neither can we have no state control at all. Welfare isn't necessarily the same issue, but I guess it's related. After all you get welfare in the form of subsidies and state aid given to capitalist businesses too.