mac99

I'm a bit conflicted, where i'm practicing spirituality, alot through meditation, working on emotions/thought management, but I also love lust, and I think certain forms of porn can be incredible art. Part of me feels lust is okay to have, and you dont have to get rid of it if you dont want to. But would this get in the way as I go deeper and deeper into states of consciousness through meditation? I know Buddhists would probably say lust is horrible and its just one of the many desires that we should drop (i'm not a buddhist btw). But part of me wants to question that, does dropping desires especially with things like lust really matter? it feels like you can go incredibly deep with spiritual development even with having desires like lust (as long as its not super negative like rape obviously), and still probably be able to get out of any reincarnation cycle.

He probably means there's only consciousness, not a soul. Which I don't think it matters they're both the same thing.

This happened in a dream. Also by being shown my purpose in this dream, I guess you can say I was shown some of my future. Also just a quick history, I have had premonitions before in my dreams, and yes they were extremely vivid and have come true. But even though they came true, those were just small little premonitions on small things, I’ve never had something on this size before. Or sometimes I would have it when I'm awake, like a feeling something is gonna happen, and then it does actually happen exactly how I felt it. Also the reason why I’ve had those premonitions was I’m pretty sure because of my meditation, when I’m doing a lot of meditation, I often start to have very vivid dreams, and then they turn into premonitions sometimes, or these certain feelings. And yes I’m not kidding a number of them have really happened, and extremely accurately to the T. I have been meditating more recently. This part of the dream where I was told this was very short, the other parts of the dream before this was just random stuff kind of like a movie story line. But then what was interesting was as it was just a normal random dream, the dream suddenly changed into this part where I was told this message (my true purpose here), like someone was quickly relaying a message to me, then it ended. Also it was a female voice that was telling me this in the dream (Idk who she is). Basically in the dream, I was told the reason why I reincarnated into this life, my mission, was to be able to see the size of the universe, and yes I’m using the exact words she used, she said “for you to know the size of the universe”. When she said that, I instantly knew that she meant, which was through my meditation that I’ve been practicing, basically for me to go deeper and deeper into my meditation and into the meditative state, expanding my consciousness and a deeper understanding reality, and eventually I would go so deep, that as she said, I would be able to know the true size of the universe, or see it for what it really is. Then she continues to tell me, after once I see this, I’m gonna want more, I’m gonna wanna see more and experience more in terms of going deeper into the meditative state. So then I will give up everything, give up my life here in society, give up my job or any idea of making money, and fully devote myself to meditation to be able to see more and know more. This is basically the exit point I planned for myself (this is what she told me, and she said ‘exit point’). By exit point I mean how I planned to leave out of this life before I reincarnated here (physical death). And by planning, I mean how I planned to live this life and leave during my time in the spirit world before I reincarnated. So by going on this meditation path after my experience of “knowing the size of the universe”, it would lead to my death because I wouldn’t be making any money, just meditating, so naturally I would starve to death. Then after I was shown a woman crying, it kind of felt like it was either my future wife or girlfriend (I’m single right now). She was crying that I was deciding to leave out of this life, and going down this meditation path and giving up everything. I knew that I was going to die on this path, but I knew that it was worth it and it would be beautiful, she knew I was going to die too. Then in the dream while she was crying she said, “it’s because of them, it’s because they converted you into being Muslim isn’t it” (I have no connection to being Muslim), then I said “no no no it’s not because of that, this is something I have to do”, then she said something along the lines of, “I want to come with you, but you don’t let me because you think I’m too weak (while she’s still crying)”, then I’m not sure what I said after this but I do remember then saying, I love you so much, and I hugged her and kissed her. During this time between me, and I’m thinking either my gf or wife in the dream, I can feel the emotions being really strong, from her being intense sadness and loss, and from me the same but also knowing that I have to do this. It’s making want to cry right now as I’m writing this. And at that point the dream ended. So essentially, the reason why I reincarnated into this life was for one thing, for me to know the size of the universe. I know this sounds funny, which it is honestly, and when I herd her say this in the dream, I didn't say it but I do remember having feelings of like, "Whaaaaaaaaaaat? That's why I came here??? Just for that?" But now that I'm thinking about it, there really is deep meaning to it, extremely deep I would say. If you think about it, that could mean everything. To know.... I'm trying to wrap my mind around it thats way too deep for me right now haha. I'm really interested to see what you guys think. Some interesting points I noticed, 1. The female voice that was telling me this had no emotion, she was more just simply relaying information to me, also after this I instantly woke up, almost like she told me this just in time. This female voice I never heard of in my life, it sounded like she was in her 30’s. 2. It’s interesting that she said, “to know the size of the universe”. And how that’s perceived as going deeper into the meditative state and have a deeper understanding of reality, when she said that I instantly knew that’s what she meant. Also I wanna add, in terms of knowing, I think it’s meant differently here. I know the size of the universe is infinite, and goes on for infinity in all dimensions. But I only know this from what I’ve read and what people have talked about. For me I don’t understand it, on an intuitive level I don’t know this, I’ve never seen it or felt it. It’s just a different type of knowing, it’s hard to describe. It’s like God. Yes, we know that God is infinite in nature, we know that God is everything and one. We know that God is love. But to truly 'know' God, for what it truly is in its nature, on a much deeper level of understanding, that’s a whole other level of knowing. You could ask, do you truly know the size of the universe? Then you can say, yes the size is infinite. Then the question becomes, do you truly know infinity? That's a BIG question. One I intend to find out. 3. The dream itself was very vivid. And it changed just from being like any other random dream, to being straight into that. Those are some of the interesting points I got, I but if you notice anymore please let me know. What do you guys think of this? It just happened right now and I started writing this before I forget.

I just recently started doing mindfulness meditation or concentration meditation over a week ago, however, I have been meditating a lot, about 3 - 3.5 hours a day. I have been getting incredible results, but I've also been running into some problems. Things like eye strain and also a lot of pressure between my eyes. And today I felt a lot of pressure in my forehead area, so much so that I felt like I was going to injure myself (pop something) if I kept going, it feels the same way with the eye strain. The moment I pay attention or be aware of the point I'm meditating on, the pressure comes back, even while keeping my body completely relaxed. Is this normal in the beginning? Or maybe I'm doing some part of it wrong? Maybe I'm meditating too much?

Hello everyone. What were the deepest states of consciousness that you entered into? This can be from any type of meditation, mantras, any other form of spiritual practice, and psychedelics. In these states, what was it like being in these deep states? Did you see anything that looked otherworldly? Or feel something that is beyond incredible? Maybe you saw another being or a vision? Was it peaceful, terrifying, or beautiful? Different insights you learned from these deep states? Please share your stories.

Which one do you think is better in terms of spiritual development, which one would take you deeper and farther? This is only for mindfulness meditation in formal sitting meditation. 12/hrs of meditation per day for 10 years, or 4/hrs of meditation per day for 30 years?

Okay, i'm gonna do it thanks. It has to do with my emotions, any negative emotion increases it. Although with my condition I think I need more like 2-4 hours per day of meditation for it to work enough, and then also some walking meditation on top of that. Its pretty bad, my body is already aging faster than normal, I feel like I'm dying I'll probably develop cancer soon if I don't do something to fix it. If I stop for a period of time of healing, the anxiety bounces back stronger than ever even after all that healing work like it was all for nothing, and if I stop for even a month, the anxiety becomes too overwhelming, I can't function properly let alone hold a job, suicide starts to become pretty attractive at that point. So i'm really gonna have to go all the way with this meditation work, even make some sacrifices of responsibilities so I can have more time to put into meditation.

I have GAD (general anxiety disorder), and I've been suffering from it for well over a decade, I also have depression symptoms, however, I think the anxiety originated from the depression when I was younger. I'm already getting suicidal thoughts as it's worn me down so much over time, after so long of having anxiety you just get so tired. Do you think mindfulness meditation is enough to fully heal anxiety? Out of all the forms of healing I've done, I feel that mindfulness meditation heals me the deepest. It's been a week since I practiced mindfulness meditation and of course, my anxiety spiked badly because of that affecting me at work (especially social anxiety) and such, but I do this in formal sitting meditation where I become aware of the present (mindful of the present), and then my thoughts begin to clear. Other forms of healing that I've done like practicing positive emotions, positive thinking, going back and letting go of the past (forgiveness), and exposure therapy, I don't feel like it is nearly enough, it definitely lowers the anxiety, but doesn't heal it completely, the anxiety is still always there. Do you think mindfulness meditation can heal it completely?

What would happen to you in the spirit world if you reached full enlightenment, but then soon after you committed physical suicide? Not out of hatred or depression for this world, your love for this physical world is very deep, but you just felt like playing a different game, to just go to the other side sooner because you simply wanted to. It could thought of as, you love your country, but you feel like living in another country because you just want to. How would this affect your reincarnation cycle? I understand if you reach enlightenment, your reincarnation cycle ends, but if you commit suicide after enlightenment would you be somehow forced to go back into the reincarnation cycle? Also, would you be left in some lower dimension or even hell if you did this even after enlightenment? Or maybe somehow cause yourself some other negative consequence. Or would it all be the same as just dying of natural causes, where you would end up going into some very high dimension and be free of the reincarnation cycle?

What do you guys think of water fasting for losing weight? I personally like it because you can lose weight so much faster. Is it worth it?

I personally wouldn't go as far as to dump her. If your doing computer work, I would tell her you gotta go do some work outside of the home, maybe you gotta go to the workplace to check up on some stuff. Then when you are out just go to a coffee shop and do some work there on your laptop. Make this an everyday routine and I'm sure she'll get used to it.

Wow, that also cleared up other confusion I had. Thanks this will be really helpful.

Interesting story on this one. NASA sent out a voyager to space in 1977, and in the voyager, they put in a golden record of this song by Willie Johnson. They did this in hopes to communicate with any alien species who may find this voyager out in the universe, and for them to listen to this song. That's why on the record notice it says, "The Sounds of Earth". NASA knew that the alien race who may find this won't speak our language, so they made sure the song doesn't have any verbal lyrics but instead conveys a certain emotion so that the ones listening can get an idea of what we were trying to say. Communicate not through words, but emotions. When I listen to this, a get a feeling of loneliness out in the middle of nowhere, and a fear that there's no one but just me. Maybe they were trying to communicate to them, "please come visit us, we are so lonely out here"?

Does reaching enlightenment prevent you from taking things personal? Like if someone were to insult you or try to verbally put you down/attack you and your enlightened, does it have any effect on you? This is something I've been struggling with in different jobs where I work with toxic people often, and I'm hoping spiritual development/enlightenment can help.