kinesin

@Windappreciator It's the same reason why a sine wave at 261.6hz (middle C) sounds better to you than one at 266.9hz, and why you prefer a perfect circle to an amorphous blob - the human brain enjoys patterns of order, so when looking at a random sequence of numbers like 872369878444874, your brain probably notices that '444' more than the others. This isn't because the numbers mean anything, it doesn't mean they're communicating something to you, it doesn't mean god is sending you secret messages, it just means you have a human brain which is adapted toward finding patterns like that. God doesn't do magic tricks, those are the work of the devil. I say 'god' asin what is actually good and true, and 'devil' asin what is actually wrong and will only cause you to stray from the truth. If you get caught up in thinking that these numbers are messages from spirits, you're falling for devilish tricks which will only distract you from higher spiritual knowledge. Having an open mind is good, but you can't allow yourself to forget that delusions exist or start thinking that all beliefs are equally truthful simply because they might feel interesting to explore.

@Kay100 Reality is already mystical enough without adding supernatural delusions into the mix.

@Dodo Go ahead and try hedonism then. You'll find out eventually why it isn't a good choice.

@Nahm Sometimes your comments are so foppily written that it's hard to even know what you're actually saying and how it relates to the topic of discussion. I can only imagine just how many different interpretations people take from what you write.

@puporing Can you really claim to be as high as turquoise if you're having trouble accepting the inevitable reality of other people at lower stages being unable to understand the higher? That's just the way things are - how can you expect them to think any differently toward your perspectives and actions if they're around blue/orange as you say? Your difficulties here seem more indicative of a stage green mindset.

No he isn't, but such a glib dismissal of another human being certainly is.

What he's saying is perfectly compatible with spirituality in a metamodernist sense, and it's also true. Reintegrate back into the dream, everyone, learn to treat it as real and *live* it as real, because that's what God wants you to do. God doesn't want you to wake up from the dream, he put you in that dream for a reason. At the very most, God wants you to be lucid dreaming. You're supposed to play along with it, which is what Elliot is doing consciously by even calling it your 'manly responsibility'. Some of you will mistake that as a sign of a stage red or orange mentality, but it's actually a higher stage (though remember SD is just a model) roleplaying as the lower. Yes it's important to transcend everything and that's where philosophies such as nondualism come in, but afterwards it's also necessary to transcend even those, which means reintegrating. It isn't dismissing spirituality, it's grounding spirituality back into the mundane, which is where its true power lies.

In my experience, the people who don't go through a phase like that in their early 20s tend to get stuck in stage blue or orange for many years, if they ever leave those stages at all. That phase does eventually end and 'reality' get reintegrated once again, but you're left with firsthand awareness that everything is ultimately arbitrary and that perspective stays with you for the rest of your life, enabling you to transcend many of the perspectives which people in the 'lower' stages can't see outside of.

Why even bother to make long comments about the nature of enlightenment if you're going to show your wounded ego so readily? You just contradicted all of it with a single sentence.

@somegirl Yes, that's how it works for me. When I'm in that position there are people I can still socialize with and people who I can't. Part of the issue for me relates to pressure to be fun and entertaining - when I find myself feeling down and introverted, I'm only able to interact with people who I can truly relax around without any expectation of being fun or interesting in any way. With certain people, even though I enjoy their company hugely and love them as people, that sense of security isn't there to the same degree and I find myself putting on a bit of a 'fun persona' with a lot more humour and laughter, which makes hanging out with those people particularly fun as long as I feel good, but then I find myself avoiding and ignoring them at times when I can't bring myself to be fun. Like I said, this is a very common issue that a lot of people experience, so it's almost surely the case with your friend.

Yes, but you're ignoring all of the other stuff which goes along with states like mania or psychosis in favour of only looking at the parts which align with spiritual realization. Imagine a venn diagram with psychosis and mania on one side, and 'enlightenment' on the other. There is an overlap for sure, but this doesn't mean they're the same thing. Mania and psychosis feature many behaviours which aren't present in an enlightened state, and enlightenment features many behaviours which aren't present in a manic or psychotic state.

@SS10 Avoid using music. Using gentle music is fine if you're using the meditation as a relaxation technique, but for training single-pointed concentration, developing insight etc music will hinder your progress. Why do you think the most used meditation objects are the body, the breath and various other inner perceptible states? Because those are always with you, always available. If you meditate with music you'll simply come to rely on it, and when the music isn't there you'll struggle.

Simplistic, immature minds who idealise mental illness and have misconceptions about the kinds of behaviours and actions one should expect to see from an enlightened person. Many people on the forum are quite young too, most only in their early 20s. They don't yet understand that for all the intense impressive thoughts a person with mania displays, there's also more negative things you don't see. Self-neglect, untreated injuries, sleep deprivation, desperation, estrangement from family and friends, lack of self control, regret once things balance out... etc etc. When people compare mental illness to enlightenment they do have a point to some extent, though. A person experiencing mania does tend to have some valid insights, however they lack the stability and grounding of genuine enlightenment and their actions often directly contradict the things they claim to be realizing (for example angrily ranting about other people's failure to accept undesirable things, etc).

It's just his ego speaking. When he says that, he's demonstrating his own belief that other people don't question things deeply enough, despite the fact that he doesn't actually know what other people are thinking. I tend to believe the opposite, from my own personal experience, that most people think far *more* deeply about things than someone might otherwise assume.

Didn't you listen to the women in the video you posted? That's the only work available to them. If everyone in the west stopped eating cashews and they were put out of work, do you think they'd look at their starving children and say "well at least my fingers don't hurt anymore"? Of course not. It's far more likely that in order to make money to feed and clothe their families, they'd gladly sacrifice more than their fingers and eyesight. They do that job because although it's hard work and their health suffers as a result, it's still preferable to the alternative. This thread is a good example of stage green idealism.

The root of suffering is in wanting things to be different than they are. Total acceptance of all eventualities is the key to freedom from suffering. Note that 'freedom from suffering' doesn't mean that bad things won't happen. This isn't magic.

@somegirl The other advice you got is bizarre and disconnected from reality (abusive relationship? she's trying to stir up drama? You have far too little information to suggest such a possibilities). I've been through this myself from both perspectives - I've been the person feeling ignored and the person doing the ignoring, and I've also spoken to many people about this over the years. The most likely answer is that she simply doesn't feel very good on those days. She likely has some degree of anxiety or tendency toward depression, and on those days when she doesn't feel up to talking to you, she hides away. If you want to talk to her about it in a positive way, I suggest asking her if she ever feels anxious or if she can't bring herself to be social some days, and tell her that if she ever needs space that you'll give it to her. Far more people go through this than you might think.

Daily meditation practice. Without this, anything else you do will just replace your current mental models with another one. There's a big difference between having knowledge about spiritual truths (via reading, learning about it etc without a meditation practice) vs naturally arriving at those truths by simply having a regular practice.

Feminine is receptive energy, masculine is expressive energy. Don't interpret this as a statement about the natures of men and women, I'm using 'feminine and masculine' in the gnostic sense where each are fundamental properties of everything in the universe. To realise spiritual truth requires one to enter the feminine mode by opening up and allowing nature in, via observation and being sensitive to what is already there. You need to listen rather than talk, to watch rather than do. Those who are more generally masculine in their energy miss out on these signals because while they're expressing upon reality, no room is left for recieving. Once again, I'm not talking about men and women, but something deeper which applies to everything in nature, not only the organisms.

@kray In hinduism, life is generally split into 4 stages which are described in this screenshot In spiritual communities, forums etc, most people you'll find are those who had to skip straight to sannyasa often due to psychological troubles or other issues which stopped them from entering the previous stages. Though some here might suggest you skip to sannyasa, if you are able to go through the preceding stages first you should do. There's always time to pursue enlightenment later in life.

It's basically just 10 days of being quiet and having an intense daily meditation practice. You still prepare and eat meals, you still shower and brush your teeth, you still wash the dishes. If you have young children, you still tell them a bedtime story each night. For the most part what you're cutting out for that time are recreational and work-related activities.

Free yourself... by physically moving your illusory body halfway around the illusory globe? Why not just free yourself here and now? I'm pointing out that your current actions aren't even compatible with the enlightenment you believe you're experiencing, in the hope that by noticing these contradictions you might stop and address your symptoms directly. You're in a manic state right now and you're doing a lot of things which are far too drastic and might cause you difficulties further down the line. Addressing and managing your mania is part of the spiritual path - if you don't learn how to get a hold of it and balance out all the chaos you're experiencing, you'll just be right back to suffering soon enough.

@Toadie2018 Practice your understanding of them. I'd recommend starting a 2-part practice using an emotion wheel like this - Start at the top of the circle and spend 20-30 minutes writing about just one of the emotions listed along the outside edge. Write whatever comes to mind - write about times you've felt that emotion, your thoughts on the nature of it, times you've known other people to go through that emotion. You should have about a page and a half or 2 pages by the end of it. Through the process of writing it down, you'll notice your thoughts start to become more ordered and you'll realise things about the emotion that you hadn't noticed before. Then afterwards, while those thoughts are in your mind, sit and close your eyes and for 20 minutes or so, consciously try to take your mind back into that emotion. Try to bring it back so that you're able to actually feel it, and then pay attention to how it does feel. The next day, you go to the next emotion on the circle and repeat the process. Will this teach you everything there is to know about emotions? Of course not. It'll take you 82 days to get around the circle though. If you do it as I said, that'll be 68 hours total spent contemplating each of these emotions. You can't even begin to imagine just how much understanding you'll gain from doing such a practice for 82 days.

@Snader This is why I said it should only be used very rarely. Personally I do ascribe to Nietzsche's view that the Apollonian and Dionysian modes both play valuable roles in the optimally lived life and that there's huge benefits to be found in occasionally throwing off the shackles of reason and rolling around in the dirt like a dog. Sure you won't be doing any theological research in that mindset, but that isn't really what it's for. Getting drunk once a year with friends is perfectly compatible with a spiritual life, and possibly even enhances it.