Matt23

Thanks a bunch. I will definitely try this.

Something about the idea of going home as always made me feel emotional. That place of peace, love, tranquility, comfort.

I recently read Susanne Cook-Greuter's paper on developmental levels (you can find it on Leo's blog). When describing the higher stages she said one trait they have is that they start to notice that "flaws, vulnerabilities, and the like are a part of being human. She said that reframing one's life story in a more positive light is also a powerful technique. I tried it a couple days ago and I felt a lot better about life in general. What unique skills, perspectives, and knowledge do you now have which came from the experiences you've gone and are going through? How can you make your shortcomings strengths and take advantage of them? What are you "supposed to be learning right now? What are some possible positive outcomes, creations, or discoveries that your current struggles are leading you towards? If you were your highest self looking down upon yourself right now, how do they see you? What advice or guidance would they give you? Love

Yeah could be. In the back of my mind and intuition kept on saying "it could be true" " you don't know if it's not". I felt a battle inside between "common" sense (not veing grounded) and openmindedness. I also noticed fear of being one of those kooks who just believes in miracles and being vulnerable to being manipulated. @okulele what did you enjoy most about the book?

Hey. I've had this belief that I'm not good enough and bad for most of my life. Over the past few years I think it's been the cause of a lot of emotional and mental turmoil. What are the most lasting and efficient ways youve found to get rid of beliefs? Thanks for any input!

Thanks all. @Rilles I have a fear that if I own it it might entrench it deeper. I could see how owning it would dissolve any neuroses from trying to suppress the "I'm bad" belief. But the belief and behaviors would still come from that original belief, it seems to me. I could give it a try. Cheers

I've been struggling a bit to find my zone of genius after taking the Life Purpose course. I have this conception of having something really specific that I work on each day that I'll master. Like artists paint, race car drivers drive, or writers write. Those all seem to have pretty obvious and practical things to do to train on. Though, I'm feeling suited more to spirituality, psychology, leadership, and mentoring people and find it hard to come up with practical things I can do to build skills daily. I'm also feeling pulled towards being a monk... Struggling with eating and sugar consumption. When I return home I feel like it's so hard to maintain my habits. Though, interestingly, I find it's more easy to meditate and to even feel positively motivated to meditate.... This is one reason why I think being a monk might be a good thing for me.

I guess I want to start a blog to document some of the things I'm going through and experience to try and help me and others find meaning and a deeper connection with life and themselves. I plan on writing anything and everything, but will try and focus more on stuff I come across in my day surrounding spirituality, life purpose, and any difficulties I may be having. As I write this, I feel inspired after reading a passage from a book called The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. The topic of the chapter is death: "For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?" I cried immediately upon reading this. I think, largely, because tomorrow I'm planning on telling a friend's mom, who I had a crush on, that I had snuck into her room around 5 or 6 years ago and went through her underwear. I'm pretty scared and feel like I'm being exposed. As if, like the quote says, I'm being exposed to the elements and stripped away and am about to jump off a cliff into thin air. Time to smear my self-image with a shit ton of mud and dirt. Fuck it! Here's the rest of the passage which I also found beautifully truthful, simple, and wise. "And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."

Ola! I've been seriously considering becoming a monk for the past 2-3 years. I probably won't do it for life, but I'd like to try it at least for a year or two in my life. I still haven't decided which tradition I'd go to (maybe Zen), but I'd love to hear any stories or advice any Westerner has had in becoming a monk in an Asian country like Japan, Nepal, India, or Sri Lanka (etc.) and the process involved. Would you recommend any monasteries in particular that cater more to Westerners? Would you advise to stay away from any specific monasteries due to any toxic culture within that monastic community? Would you recommend any country for Westerners to study in that are more accommodating than others? Would you recommend any traditions in particular? Thanks for any help!

I haven't really experienced it. I'd like to try a month or multi-month stay in the years to come to see how it goes. Whenever I come back to my home town for a visit and stay with family (where I feel like all my basic needs are met and I feel relatively safe and secure) I have so much more motivation to do meditation and other self-inquiry and spiritual techniques. That makes me think that kind of lifestyle might suit me. At least for a time to gain experience and practice.

It's a smaller book. But packed full of wisdom and written in a poetic and story like way which, I find, makes it very moving and helps penetrate the lessons and wisdom deeper within the soul. Each chapter touches on a different topic ranging from death and children to work and pleasure. In total the book is 96 pages in length, but I think is written so beautifully and with so much wisdom and truth packed into it that it's well worth the read. A great book to have on hand in your bathroom or near the couch for a quick hit of wisdom now and then. I find it really puts me in touch with my higher-self, life, and spirit.

It wasn't like a really negative experience, like an annoyance. Still felt the badness but it wasn't anything devastating. It went away that night I think. I think I feel better about it because I saw an area I should work on. I've never had any long-term negative mind states from psychedelics or meditative/spiritual experiences that I'm aware of. Except this one (I don't know if it was "spiritual") which happened in 2012 ish. I'd never done psychedelics or meditation before and I was going through some tough mental terrain. I remember looking out at the ocean and beach as if everything was totally empty, like it was paper thin. It felt like a black abyss and I remember thinking it was the most terrifying feeling ever and I'd never wish it on my worst enemy. Even a hug from my mom didn't help. Then I went into a crowded pizza shop and felt better. That feeling came on and off for a year afterwards maybe. Though not as intense. I still don't really know what it was.

Yeah... I was wondering the same thing.... I think the insight about how everything felt like "not it" or "not real" was somewhat relieving. Sort of like I didn't have to take these personal things so seriously, not matter what they are. Perhaps making me more able to work with them. Bringing a slight feeling of joy, levity, and humor to things. The other feeling of "being bad" might have made me a bit more depressed in a sense. Not on a large level. Or it might have simply shown me more clearly what was already there. Either way, I think it was really revealing and made me realize I should work on eliminating that belief structure and how much it influences my daily interactions. While I write this I feeling hopeful because I see it as a solution to some of the issues I've been facing in the past and present. It's hard to say though... haha... Even if it made me more depressed, I see it as if I'm simply taking on more of my own 'stuff' that I would have to work on anyways if I want to grow more. So, it's all good. One thing I wish was that I planned and made more time to think about and integrate these insights afterwards. Have you had any psychedelic or spiritual experiences that resulted in a long-term negative mind states? If so, how did they turn out in the end and if you overcame them, how did you do that?

I like the message. I was doing LSD today out in the forest and parks. I walked around and noticed this sense that I was somehow bad or guilty of something. Like people were out to get me and that i was bad. I've recognized this belief system before in me. At one point I recognized how I felt I had to prove I was good to other people by almost fighting them or making sure they new I was good. Then, at another time, I realized that no matter how much inner belief, feeling, and psychological work I do, and no matter how much benefit and health can be gained from it, that non of it is actually me. That it all somehow felt unreal or unsupported. That it wasn't really real or "it". It was like "Yeah I have all these issues and negative feelings etc. But, honestly and weirdly, they don't have any substance. No pay dirt. No "umpf". Like I could just get rid of it all and nothing would happen. Like it was just more stuff. Nothing to take personally. Lesson = Personal issues aren't personal. What you talked about at the start reminded me of this moment. Thanks.

While doing the do-nothing meditation with the eyes open, are you supposed to keep them focused on one spot or can you let them roam around and look at stuff?

I don't know exactly. But I think it's around 150 - 200 books. They aren't the actual books themselves. It's only the list and a short explanation and rating on them. You have to buy the books yourself.

Helloooo! I'm looking for a little motivation for my spiritual practice. I've never had an enlightenment experience and would love to hear about your mystical experiences and how they've transformed your life. This would be great if we could get a whole bunch of examples for motivating others as well. Thanks!

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." -Gandalf

I'd like to create a collage of material to help people get motivation for their spiritual practices. Sayings, perspectives, attitudes, videos, anecdotes, stories, music, pictures, etc. Anything and everything which you think would add a burst of rocket fuel into a person's spiritual practice.

I've felt similar... I think. One thing that might be helpful in escaping wage slavery is too accept it. Making you more peaceful and happy, and therefore, more able to be productive in the long run.

There's an online version of a book called Mastering The Core Teachings Of The Buddha 2 (called MCTB2) by Daniel Ingram. It goes into some depth and subtleties about maintaining and balancing a meditation practice. In one part it talks about being able to balance wisdom with faith, concentration with energy, and mindfulness. He likens these five aspects to wheels on a cart, with mindfulness being the driver, and how if one wheel is off or wobbly it will send the whole cart off course. Here's a couple quotes. - "...too much energy is related to a lack of concentration and vice versa." - "With excess energy, we may be completely unable to focus at all because we are overemphasizing effort at the expense of focusing on the object of meditations." Here's a link to the site as well https://www.mctb.org/ I don't know if this is your specific issue, but it might help. The book also has lots of information on other aspects of keeping and developing a spiritual practice that are pretty straight forward and practical with the more religious aspects of Buddhism taken out. At least as far as I've read.

@MsNobody I'd recommend going to one.

@Leo GuraHow difficult is it to live in the states as a Canadian? @Cocolove I live in BC, which has lots of hippie-green type of people and communities already, so I'll probably create a community here if I do. I also thought of going over to Asia (India or Nepal) to create one. Do you think that Asia could use a westernized version of spirituality? Or do you think that it would be redundant or wouldn't work?

Hey. I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience living in or running any type of self-sustainable community or monastery type life. I'm looking for more information and advice on what it takes to run this type of community, as well as what it would take to teach spirituality in such a setting. Thanks, in advance, for any and all suggestions, advice, and info.

I went to one of Peter Ralston's retreats. In it we did some diads (where you sit facing a partner) on digging through our beliefs and unconscious. One person would contemplate out loud (anything they had inside) and the other person would simply look at them and try as best as possible not to show any type of reaction (negative or positive). This was to allow the other person to express or contemplate what was inside without having any approval or disapproval from their partner. I broke out in tears once, and some other people did too. One lady ended up screaming really loudly at one point, but then it passed and people simply went back to contemplating. We also made a group agreement where everyone agreed to allowing everyone else to express anything and everything. I feel like this created an atmosphere where anything could happen, yet, if something emotional or significant was expressed that it could be done without making it a "big deal" or make the other people too involved. It might help to make some sort of clarification or agreement beforehand about the nature of your relationship and how you'll handle significant emotional expressions or purging.