snowyowl

What God given rights? As far as I can see, the only rights we have are what we've (and our ancestors mainly) have struggled and fought for. China hasn't had a democracy yet, so their people are in for an uphill struggle if they want it. The CCP also appears scared about the prospect of 'splittists', and their country fragmenting (not yet acknowledging that they are occupying Tibet, or have lost Taiwan). In general through, can a one party state run a capitalist economy sustainably in the long term? I think they gave up on communism in the 1980s and have had economic growth since then. If they have a serious recession with unemployment etc then maybe the cracks will show. But then again, they managed to enforce the one child policy on a huge population, so they must have a very tight grip.

Young Jedis will try, try and try again until the Wu Wei, they find

Nice realisation, thanks for sharing I wonder what's the difference with Shunyamurti speaking to you rather than anyone else? We're all consciousness after all. Perhaps it's because some people have pure consciousness without self-consciousness.

@allislove +1 . 10 days is a nice time for a holiday but I'll bet it feels like a long time for your first 10 day solo. I've only tried it on a group retreat which was quite enough first time. But next spring gives time to work up to it. @Rigel Best wishes, you seem well organised, please tell us how it goes. Will you do it at home, or are you going away somewhere?

How solid is your regular everyday practice? Maybe focus on that, intensify first, then try a solo day retreat, then next time a weekend etc. If we're not quite ready, the ego throws up a lot of resistance like this. Good luck anyways

I remember from maths that 0^0 = 1. Nothing, with zero dimensions, equals unity. Unity is made up of an infinity of fractions, which is what we are!

We live in a modern society full of possibilities and expectations for the future, we have dreams unheard of for our ancestors. So when the reality doesn't match the desire, we judge ourselves and feel unsatisfied with the reality of the now, and reject ourselves. The answer, imo, is to fully accept, embrace and love ourselves how we are now and that love generates some positive energy and space to move forward and make plans for our personal development - eg Nahm's dreamboard, Leo's life purpose videos. Imagine if you became a dad right now (if you aren't already) - well, you know you've got your own issues, don't we all, do you think you would do a perfect job? We all make mistakes, can you forgive them, accept them as products of their own history, and create some space for a fresh start? Accept your emotions, don't resist them, they are showing you your pain. Have compassion on yourself, yes there is a problem but it is in the past. Try to reframe this as there was a problem which has created this pattern of anxiety feelings. If you fully accept and give space to the anxiety, is it such a big problem? Keep accepting it and I predict that over time, it will reduce. Accept it anyway, it's all there is. Accept also your judgement of wrongness (that's part of reality too!). Accept yourself in the here and now. Practice unconditional acceptance (ok this may take a while to perfect). Treat it like a meditation practice, when you notice you are criticising or rejecting yourself, move over to acceptance, like some people focus on the breath. Over and over and over again. Accept, accept, accept.

Is this like inducing a sensory deprivation state without any content to experience? I haven't got there by trying to imagine my way into it, that creates waves of effort in my mind, which are stirring up experiences of blackness etc - if you see what I mean. I usually do my evening meditation in a dark room, when the house is quiet etc so perhaps I get a bit closer to this. Then it's more like letting go of phenomena which I experience, and if I'm lucky, it turns into no-one experiencing them, the phenomena just happen by themselves, merge into one with the awareness. But I'm not sure if it's the same state you are describing.

@lewis-j this sounds awesome but a bit scary when you're driving! Perhaps that's why your ego kicked back in, as a survival instinct. I get this sometimes when I'm in a relaxed mood (not just meditating) , although I don't have a name for it yet so thanks @Osaid for the name. I wasn't sure if it's samadhi, do you know what's the difference? I could do with a good glossary for these terms to be honest. Welcome to the forum btw, this is a great entrance Is this experience the result of a regular practice of some sort, or just purely out of the blue, like a grace?

@RoerAmit Some great advice so far Do you have anxiety with particular situations, or in general? For specific issues, have you tried a gradual desensitisation in combination with the other techniques? Eg I have anxiety with job interviews and public speaking, but it has improved with gentle practice, gradually increasing the exposure as I rewire my system.

Hi, thanks for this,it looks really interesting! I have heard of the oil that was used to anoint the Israeli Kings (Messiahs/Christs) - including myrrh as an ingredient which is presumably why it was one gift of the 3 Wise Men. In fact, anointing with holy oil including myrrh is still used in the UK coronation ceremony, the last time in 1953 it was the only part hidden from the TV cameras because it is so sacred. Therefore, in theory at least the UK Queen is a Christ because she is an anointed person. There's a lot here which is new to me, about chrism within the human body that I'll need to think about but nice share anyway

Meditation sitting practice: concentration (mindfulness of breathing) + resting in being (natural awareness) following Diana Winston. I plan to read The Mind Illuminated soon and maybe adjust my practice from there. I got it from archive.org on recommendation from folks in the forum here. Plan: 30 mins per day incr to 60. Current actual: 20-30 mins but not every day. I must get more disciplined! Start reading TMI in November. Timescale 2 months to end December. Weight loss: BMI to come down to 20 and waist/height to 48%. Timescale 2 months to end December. This is a big challenge and tight timescale, as I've lost a lot of fitness due to the coronavirus lockdowns and working from home. My diet needs an urgent cleanup and Xmas is coming soon! Learn some breathing exercises eg from Yoga to energise, cleanse etc. In fact I want to reboot a yoga practice but not setting any specific targets until January (got enough to deal with in the other 2 plans).

Hi thanks for this info. I suppose if it costs money (electricity) and time to mine your new Bitcoins, then there needs to be a reward to make a profit so that people do it. Perhaps I should invest in a super quantum computer to get them more efficiently Also if it is faster & easier than using national currencies then there's a "cost leadership" business model to undercut the traditional banks (like discount supermarkets) - all we need next is a lending industry too so you could take out a mortgage (for example) in cryptocurrency, if you dare! Perhaps the big banks will copycat and get on the bandwagon if this starts to disrupt the system too much.

I have a memory of Christopher Titmuss saying (on the subject of life after death) "who lives, who dies?" meaning that the best way to find out what's going to happen to us in the future, is to find out who we are now. Until I fully bottom that out, I'm just speculating and theorising. Maybe we only find out the truth about reincarnation when we're fully enlightened and (if you believe the Eastern religions) don't need to do it any more, ha ha!

@Beeflamb by 'rabbit hole' do you mean doing your spiritual practice etc? Externally it can appear we are going on a different tangent from our family & friends when we start doing new practices like meditation, yoga, breathwork, reading different books etc. How long have you been on the path? I have found that over time, it has helped me get closer to other people as I become a better listener, understand human psychology better, have more compassion, become more accepting of the wide diversity of life. For example, I used to have many intellectual barriers to relating with Christians, but since I have tasted the deeper truth connecting us all, those barriers have become very thin and transparent. Love wells up within us and the other people around us respond to that, unless they have their own issues to overcome.

I can see how Bitcoin and other blockchain technology has potential, it may provide some added value compared with regular currencies. But I think there's some risks (at the moment): - Who provides the guarantees and governance if anything goes wrong? Regular banks & currencies are as good as the governments which regulate them (eg they bailed them out in the credit crunch) but who can you turn to if Bitcoin crashes or gets hacked? - Bitcoin may be useful to some people, but they are trading at about £10,500 ($13,750) each today. They don't give that much extra value vs traditional money surely? This looks like bubble territory to me, if it's based on people buying them speculatively just hoping for rising prices, rather than actually using them for their own unique functionality. How many places accept payment in Bitcoin or other cryptos? Maybe I'm being too cautious and can't see the value long-term. Dotcom shares went through a huge boom, bust, then boom again 20 years ago so I'm not writing Bitcoin off altogether.

@datamonster So when you buy into Bitcoin, what are you investing into (if you don't mind me asking)? Is it like speculating on the exchange rate of a foreign currency, or are you buying shares in something? Just curious because I don't see where the growth comes from.

@Superfluo Love and goodness are wise and canny, they give people what they need, not what they want. Think about your own desires, is it loving to yourself to give in to them all? Spend the day gorging on cheetos and netflix, or discipline yourself against the grain with spirituality and self development work? Similarly, allowing someone to exploit you isn't being loving to anyone, that's a naive version of love.

I get triggered by some opinions too, but if I try to follow it through I soon discover that I'm nowhere near as well informed as my ego fancies itself to be. So it's an opportunity for humility and engaging in a gentler way, to tease out a little more insight. Feisty opinions can be useful as grist for the mill, exposing my reactions which may remain hidden otherwise. Three bows to people who trigger me, you're (inadvertently) helping me on the path _/|\_

We can call it a physical world within the dream (idealism), or a dream inside the physical world (materialism). To me these are the same, just two sides of the same map. Actually there is neither dream nor matter, until we start to create ideas about it. That's when the One becomes Two.

** Alert this post is rather theoretical please bear with me *** Materialism "The philosophical belief that nothing exists beyond what is physical." Physical "Pertaining to the world as understood through the senses rather than the mind; tangible, concrete; having to do with the material world. " - Wiktionary I've basically come through a scientific materialist background too so this is an interesting inquiry. Ok, so effectively, materialism means that physical matter / energy is everything. This is still philosophical monism, with the word 'Matter' substituted for what others here like Leo call God, Being, Absolute Reality, Love etc. The important point is that materialism isn't a dualistic philosophy. You are just using a different label for the basic stuff, the suchness of existence. Does awareness, consciousness, the mind exist? If you say yes, then that must mean that matter is alive, conscious, aware, at least in the complex forms of animals. Where then is the cut-off between conscious and unconscious matter? If brains are just a collection of atoms then we're saying that atoms have come together to create art, science, society - the same atoms which exist anywhere else. If it's just the way the atoms are arranged which makes the difference, then either: there must be a small level of sensitivity or consciousness inherent in each single one; or, it's the structure rather than the content which creates consciousness (which doesn't really sound like materialism any more). IMO it's still very much worth a materialist doing spiritual practice, not to judge any ideas as right or wrong, but to simply be the universe contemplating itself, just like any other spiritual seeker. In that space of silent meditation, all these labels such as matter, mind, physical, consciousness, etc melt away and then what is left?