Toby

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Everything posted by Toby

  1. Musicians that I consider awake or at least highly conscious: Jarrah, Steven Walters, Janin Devi, Deva Premal. There are many many examples.
  2. There are lot of artists that are "spiritual". For example former lead guitarist of RHCP is deeply into meditation, as are members of Incubus. Serj Tankian from SOAD, Billy Corgan, Rick Rubin, Alanis Morisette are all more or less friends with Ken Wilber. And Ross Robinson, the famous producer, is even the son of Byron Katie. And there are also famous spiritual musicians, for example Deva Premal & Miten.
  3. I have been at one retreat and one weekend with Adya. Other than that I've never been at a retreat with Isaac, but have been to a lot of his meetings.
  4. Adyashanti has one in UK also but it's probably full. Other than that I'd go looking for Rupert Spira's shedule. He lives in UK as far as I know. But except for Adya, there is not much sitting going on as far as I know.
  5. Isaac Shapiro near Munich or Netherlands. Or Adyashanti in Netherlands. Not Vipassana, but they are both the real deal.
  6. I guess UG Krishnamurti said something like "If you can choose between enlightenment and 1 million bucks. Choose the 1 million. At least it's good for something". Btw: Eckhart Tolle and Byron Katie both woke up from severe psychological conditions. But they both were putting in some work. It did't happen only by itself.
  7. Affirmations are usually used to create certain states of consciousness or evoke certain states. Enlightenment is not about states of consciousness, because every state is impermanent. However, some traditions work with mantras, visualisations, contemplation of certain phrases that resonate with your true self and penetrate your ego-structure and give you tastes of essential qualities of your being although they in themself are not ultimate truth. At least that is as far as I understand it.
  8. Imo the investment in the dream or the story is what matters, not if the story is pleasant or unpleasant. And it doesn't matter how the characters in the story are. At least initially for waking up. But for embodiment it is quite helpful to be healthy on different levels imo. But there are no rules and no exclusivity.
  9. I have experience with EFT for almost 10 years. It might work on certain things, for others it's not that great. Especially if you try it yourself or with a therapist that isn't able to read "trauma signs". You can easily be fooled getting somewhere when all you do is dissoziating and spacing out instead reintegrating the energy. Edit: But it can be very helpful.

  10. Opening Of The Heart

    Toby replied to WelcometoReality's topic in Self-Actualization Journals

    You just look what kind of books/videos/audios you are attracted to and once you know the general direction you can ask people for recommendations or research some teachers and then you go to whom you resonate with. For example, if you are interested in Satsang/Advaita, I could give you a few names, depending in which city you live .

  11. Opening Of The Heart

    Toby replied to WelcometoReality's topic in Self-Actualization Journals

    Check out the audiobook "End of your world" by Adyashanti if you haven't already.
  12. What exactly do you want to meditate for?
  13. Take Eckhart Tolle as an example. In the System of the Enneagram (something a bit like the MBTI) he is a "selfpreservational 5", which is by default the most withdrawn type out of 27 types/subtypes. He is imo very free and at peace and he is able to at times show more extrovertet behaviour, but afterall he is still an introvert. So Awakening won't chance your personality necessarily.
  14. Some teachers also use "Am I?" for inquiry and say that Ramana's "Nan yar?" should really be translated that way. Good one. Sounds a bit like Rupert Spira. I guess he did a video on youtube how to inquire with that question.
  15. Youtube-Channel AwakenWithJP. I'm pretty sure he is awake as far as I can tell. Great comedy on there but also more serious advice.
  16. His first book "waking the tiger" is also good, but it isn't that deep. "In an unspoken voice" there is almost everything in there, it's the summary of his work. In the audiobook (by soundstrue.com) there is also much depth, but mainly it's good for the exercises and for getting a feel what he is saying. You can get it also on amazon audible.
  17. Get Adyashanti's free ebook "way of liberation". There he explains inquiry. And also Meditation. Traditionally people ask "who am I?" or better "what am I?" because the first one almost implies "someone". You can also search fo rthe inquiry approaches of Nisargadatta or Ramana on Google.
  18. Why don't you start with the statement / thought "I" or "I am"? You can investigate them, contemplate them or ask "what am I?". This is much more direct I'd guess.
  19. You could have Asperger or some schizoid personality disorder.
  20. In this book she (her path is/was christian mysticism) maps out what she also wrote in her other two books, but it is more straight-forward. Simplified she describes ego-consciousness, no-ego/unity-consciousness and no-self. I highly recommend this book for anyone with a deep interest in truth. (not recommended for people that are only into self-help). Particulary it is helpful to distinguish between what she calls no-ego and no-self. It is certainly one of the top 30 books on spirituality I read.
  21. Peter Levine's work is really great for trauma. You could read "In an unspoken voice" and / or listen to his "healing trauma" audiobook. If it resonates you can then experiment a little bit with bis exercises or search for a "Somatic Experiencing" (his method) practioner.
  22. I guess the Bhagavadgita deals with this paradox. While in the battlefield Arjuna awakens and he doesn't want to fight anymore and Krishna gives him advise on that. Also it might be interesting to distinguish between pre-moral, moral and trans-moral. Ken Wilber / Spiral Dynamics and others talk about that. Also, there are murderers or criminals or soldiers who awoken to their true nature. So one cannot really say what story one have to go through.
  23. Yeah. Totally true. People just switch their vocabulary but underderlying is the same structure. It is possible with every concept, also the "neti neti" approach. "Everything is illusion", "i am the whitness", "i am", "nothingness", "emptiness", "unity", "Self", "no self", "here and now", "love", "bliss", "be still", "you are that"... Different traditions have different words and concepts which can be taught to a parrot which doesn't render him awake. Even though "he is also the one". Of course. "Have you read the bible?" today is like "Have you read 'I am That'?". And "have you heard of Jesus?" now is almost like "have you heard of Ramana?". Expressions and pointers of truth can quickly become just concepts if not spoken from truth. But they all can be amazing pointers if they are spoken from truth.
  24. 19th/20th century: Siddharameshwar, Ramakrishna, Ramana, Nisargadatta, Anandamayi Ma, Shunryu Suzuki, Chogyam Trungpa, Osho, Papaji, Irina Tweedie, Jiddu Krishnamurti 21st century: Adyashanti, Shinzen Young, Gangaji, Mooji, Isaac Shapiro, Bernadette Roberts But there are many many more, it is more important what teacher is right for oneself than "who is the best?". There are so many traditions and approaches where you can find great teachers in.
  25. There is a saying that says something like this: "The world is Illusion. Brahman (the Absolute) alone is real. The world is Brahman". (Shankara) It's best not to get identified with byproducts of "Enlightenment" or the tastes of it. And also not get identified with certain viewpoints of Reality, be it "the whitness", "the absolute", "emptiness" or something like that. These are common traps as every genuine teacher will tell. It has to go full circle as shown in the quote or in Zen in the pictures with the ox.