LifeandDeath

@CARDOZZO ah, I can now see why you can relate to the model as we seem to have been following and studying the same people and models how are you going on your embodiment / deep transformational journey so far? I’ve been able to get some good growth in terms of certain habits, not all, but working in it, which I’m chuffed about, and now looking at integrating some of the internal conflicts I seem to have been living with for some time, where my ego sees them as competing but I can see how they could be more coherent with a mindset shift. thanks for the chat, and if I decide to invest more time in adding refining and the model then I will come back to the thread and let you know, but keen to just not repeat what’s already out there, and at the moment it’s more of an artistic expression of the literature and teachings I’ve been exposed to. hope you gain something from it too good luck with your journey 🙏

@CARDOZZO thanks, for the encouragement. I was considering putting up a free website to go deeper into the relational topics in each stage, more as a personal hobby but also to stimulate discussions. Might still do that, still deciding if it’s a worthwhile exercise to do. I was kind of gauging what the response would be to see if there was enough interest, or if it was impressionable enough. Also, other similar models have been done combining Western & Eastern, so not sure if it’s repeating the same info just in a different way. Check out Integral theory as developed by Ken Wilber which is a synthetic metatheory aiming to unify a broad spectrum of Western theories and models and Eastern meditative traditions within a singular conceptual framework. I’ve done Peter Ralston’s program Experiencing The Nature of Being program several times, and one of live workshops, read a number of his books, and thinking of doing it again, so I can’t recommend it enough. A lot of these things are deeply personal though, so the model and practices work for you, but definitely I recommend, as it’s unique approach, with some unique techniques taught. Still practicing. It’s not been the only influence as I mentioned but probably a model used the most over the years, hence I’ve tried to include as many models I know of out there as simply as I could without too much over simplification. Although any model is going to over simplify. I stumbled across Peter Ralston through Leo’s videos. Then dived deep into it over the past several years, and in the past year or two I’ve gone a lot broader into other work on consciousness studies, theories, philosophies, and scientific attempts to progress our understanding, trying to include religious teachings but I always get stumped with religion as I find the domain of religion is so dogmatic and strict on its scriptures. But nevertheless, I try, in my own way. Have you come across any content that you see as similar to this Infograph or do you see this as unique to what you’ve come across before? What’s been your strongest influence to your personal journey?

@CARDOZZO it’s meant to be an inter-disciplinary approach so it’s a broad read across multiple disciplines, methods and subjects It’s aimed to map introspection and takes into consideration some of the main areas of introspection It was mostly inspired by Peter Ralston, after I’ve done the Experiencing the Nature of Being and reading some of his books Ralston had the model as condition - condition (unknown) —> experience —> perception --> interpretation —> cognition —> effect. Ralston emphasises individuals having a direct experience of the work rather than a model. He also overlays non-duality and existentialism philosophy (like Sartre) as the core themes. It’s also influenced by Buddhism. Some subjective psychology and cognitive psychologists such as Donald Hoffman. I introduced “meta-“ as the first stage where the mind is able to meta-analyse and understand constructs which is also inclusive of non-duality. “content” to talk to the duality experienced by the mind. perception where we start to create distinctions we make within context. interpretation is self evident effect is the emotional charge, value, purpose that we overlay on our impressions. I added in Consequential to look at our reactions and actions we take as a lot of the prior stages are more internal and mental, and I think an action taken has a very big impact on the next moment. then I listed all the various terms out there across various literature and tried to categorise the best fit stage that I thought it fit into. Naturally not all words are a perfect fit and some words fit across most stages in the model, but thought I would try as I was aiming for steps and stages as best as I could as a guide to self enquiry. Simplifying various literature and aiming for a model that is comprehensive, inclusive, accurate to self-inquiry, and clear every day language. What are your thoughts?

Tried to integrate a number of teachings into one diagram in a simplistic way, drawing on all core themes. It’s a model to map an array of introspective, existentialist-type, non-dualist teachings. Not sure if it’s clear for someone reading, if it makes sense or just my own journalling that is more like my own individual study notes. Keen to put it out to this community to get some feedback.

Thanks @Dodo im not tossing the whole concept aside as I agree I'm obviously thinking about a no spending challenge as I'm in debt and I actually earn a lot of money and I want to break the spending cycle. But I gathered the challenge is itself extreme and could be a trap and lead to other complications, like unrealistic expectations, resistance, etc. it could have a shadow side which far outweighs the benefits. It could lose sight of the fact that I just need to not "over consume". I think I will scrap the challenge idea, and I already feel relief from doing that. I'll just live within my means and aim to overcome my unnecessary buys by reconfiguring my values. I haven't got to being able to save yet which is why I was wanting to undertake an extreme measure like the no spending challenge. But realistically, cutting back will be more appropriate and realistic.

wow, @Arman @Prabhaker ok, that's two negatives to the idea. I can see both your points. thank you, I think I will embody my consumerism instead of resisting it and be mindful with attentive awareness. Thank you for contributing as I feel that after listening to this feedback I have resolved an issue that was bugging me for a while. =)

I see fasting one day per week is a little controversial I'm training to get a six pack so thinking it could be a good overall way of keeping calorie intake down over the week Any one doing this out there that can share their reports? Any tips or hints? Perhaps warnings against this?

I'm thinking of putting myself on a 12 month no-spending challenge, where I will not be spending any money, other than on 'essential items', like groceries for preparing food, utility bills, and that's about it. Any 'essential' items that come up along the way will be considered on a case-by-case basis. This means that I'll have all clothing that I need for the year, and no purchases what so ever. I've seen other people do this on-line and blog it and find it very interesting. Do you think it will help deconstruct my ego by eliminating all forms of unnecessary attachment to consuming, or do you think it's a form of self mortification that will lead to unnecessary irritation and deprivation? Has anyone done anything like this before and would anyone recommend it for a kind of spiritual detox?

@FirstglimpseOMG have you ever gone, say 2 months without fapping or any orgasm?

@electroBeam or regeneration could be completely psychological?

@electroBeam do find theres a regeneration period of a few days to build the energy back after fapping?

@electroBeam thanks, I'm keen to look into this

@electroBeam well, I did reach really soft breath afterwards, complete relaxation, and my monkey chatter stopped, and it did feel like a void. Although, my ego returned shortly afterwards as i started analysing what happened during my meditation, then I slipped back into formal meditation on breath as I did before. I think you are right, I didn't go all the way. Does that mean I needed to ejaculate to 'go all the way', or is it more about ego death? But anyhow, it was a pretty deep place I went directly afterwards, and I've been to some pretty deep places, so maybe for a newbie it could have been perspective shattering??? Although, I'm always looking for new depths, so I'm going to keep an open mind in that theres further territory for me to discover, and I'll start cultivating my kundalini practice and integrate it into my meditation thanks

@SOUL wow, this is helping me get over a conceptual limitation I thought that we could never be aware of awareness, because it's like a touch shining out and it never can shine directly on itself So when you describe 'self conscious' then this is starting to make more sense in the possibility of something external of myself understanding itself and it's about the ego stepping back and letting that happen through us, as we watch the unfolding self awareness take place. I imagine as we step back, then as self awareness is aware of itself I imagine we as ego dualistic being would feel like we have remembered something and can sit in peace outside any stimulation or experience, in joyful spacious silence. I believe I've been there, but I know there's a lot more ego deconstructing to do for myself to reach new levels any methods you can share that have perhaps worked for you would help thanks

I was meditating today for an hour and I was having these jolts rush up from my legs up my body I haven't heard or read too much about kundalini but I imagine that's what these sensations are. They can vary from tingly feelings, to twitches, to jolts that knock my elbows and knees up and down. The more occasional powerful ones can tense my whole body in a spasm and almost is painful. But always more relaxing afterwards. Sometimes I get a throb in my groin as well (I'm male) and pleasant tingly feelings and sometimes some slight movement down there. But just today, wow. I almost had an orgasm. Now I did hear Ram Dass describe such a body-mind blow kundalini where he actually orgasmed, and after listening to that a month or so ago, I was jealous and desperately wanted to experience this. But today I almost did. I felt like I was penetrating and I almost came and at times felt on the verge of orgasm. Now what brought this on was actually me trying to 'ignore' or 'let these sensations go' as I was practising mindfulness of breath, and so was seeing every sensation experience as fleeting moments and trying to tune into my deeper sense of being and awareness. But it seemed the more I let these sensations come and go, the more intense they got, and the whole process left me heaving and almost thrusting my hips, trying to detach from the pleasure but not control it in any way. But I am conscious of not letting me slip into sexual urges as at the moment I'm attempting to let my sexual energy rise into higher consciousness than just gratifying and releasing it, so this practise was also in my mind. But I couldn't help get caught in it and I was thinking at the time I'm not going to repress it as I want to fully experience it without getting scared, but as long as I don't attach to it. It then passed and I continued on with my meditation with only one or two small kundalini's afterwards. I wasn't going to tell anyone as I feel like when I have experiences, I feel the need to share, and sharing sometimes is gloating or my ego wanting to impress. So if I don't share the experience, then I'll cut my ego from the roots so I won't let my ego sneak in to my attempt to integrate my meditation experience into my daily practice. But this was too unreal to not share at least in this community, where I find I'm around like minded people. Firstly, has anyone else had similar orgasmic experience? Also, do you think I brought this on in some constructivist way? Or have I just hit another stage in my meditation?