Erlend K

Thanks for the reply @Faceless . Some parts of it I don't t fully understand, like your views in time and what time has to do with this topic. I have a few comments: I don't agree with your line of reasoning here. You seem to view a doer/doing duality between as a necessary condition for spiritual development to be possible. I view seeking, striving, growing, developing etc as real even tho there are no Self that seeks, strives, grows or develops. Obviously the question "what is Real?" fully depends on ones definition of the word "Real". For me, any meaningful definition of "Real" would have to include the stream of consiousness and its contents. One might insist on some pet epistomology that excludes the stream of consiousness from "Reality", but at that point we would just be bugged down in a silly language game. Phenomenologicaly we have this sense of a "Self" inside our stream of consciousness. It's an illutions, but the phenomenology of it exists/is real, just like the phantom pain of an amputated leg is real, even tho the leg dosn't exist/ is an illution. 'Equanimity' as a rough translation of the Pali term 'upekkha'. Bhikkhu Bodhi translates Upekkha more precisely as "stability in the face of the fluctuations of worldly fortune. It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by the six gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. Upekkha is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one's fellow human beings." Again I don't agree that this implies duality. The main thing here is to just embrace the paradox of this whole ting. At one level ideas like "I don't exist" and "There is no me that can develop" are true, but one have to be careful not to let this become an excuse not to put in the hard work required to develop. It's like saying "nothing is objectively morally right or wrong" and then use this as an excuse for cruelty or selfishness, or saying "time is an illusion/the past dosn't exist/it's always just now" and use this as an excuse to be late to appointments, etc. What is true at one level can untrue at another. We kind of just have to except that we can't fully wrap our head around "Truth". Wisdom is about understanding witch of the often many contradictory truths that are relevant to any particular real-life situation, and then acting based on that truth. On the path of spiritual development jumping straight to the truth that "I don't exist, therefor there is no I that can grow or develop" dosn't seem like a wise way to deal with this paradox.

I'm not sure if I understand your question. I would say that spiritual development implies increased cohesion/unity among our fragmented, competing mental sub-systems. This manifests (at least in the Buddhist path) as increased equanimity, mindfulnes and concentration. On the other hand sertain intermittant stages of the journey, like the duka nanas, involves increased suffering and weakend mindfulness. I havn't experienced this myself, but the first hand descriptions I have heard sounds nothing like schizophrenia. Complete unification of all mental systems would be Samadhi, wich ends/pauses of the internal struggle among these competing systems.

Typical symptoms of schizophrenia include trouble focusing/ paying attention and poor working memory. This is the polar opposite of what you see in true spiritualy development. What makes you believe schizophrenics are awakened?

Some therapists do this, others don't. If you are someone seeking therapy for a mental issue there are very likely certain benefitial lifestyle changes you are resisting, and getting a gentile push towards them can be exactly what you need. @Prabhaker, most of Freud's theories are not taken seriously by modern psychology. His methodology (psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy) is actually an effective treatment for some psychiatric patients, so it is still used clinically, but even those who use his methods mostly reject Freuds theories about why the psychoanalytical/psychodynamic methodology works. It is easy to find anecdotal evidence of bad/nutty therapists. Instead of getting caught up by these,one should look at what is generally true - Those who seek therapy for mental disorders have, on average, higher rates of remission and lower rates of relapse than those who find some alternative means of dealing with their disorders. For the question about therapy vs life coaching: These approaches tend to have different aims and time tables, and are appropriate for different people. A slight overgeneralization is: Therapists are generally interested in doing long-term insight-oriented work with a client. Life coaches role is mostly in motivating a client, helping him achieve demonstrable change and results asap.

Acording to the multiverse interpretation of quantum mechanics: Yes. Acording to the copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics: No. So far we have no idea wich of these interpretations, if any of them, is correct.

I have seen two therapists, and my girlfriend has seen one. Our experience has been very positive. To answer your questions: Do you think that it's normal to be frequently late (like 30 minutes to 1 hour)? No. This is unacceptable. I have never heard of a therapist doing this. I think you should confront her about this. Do you think it's normal that in every session a psychologist asks the same questions asked in the previous one? It can be. Some questions like how your symptoms have been since your last session should be repeated each time. Also if she intuits that you are holding back/blocking something important, it could make sense to keep asking about it. Do you think normal saying she doesn't like the manner of a patient? Not sure if it's normal, but it can be okey. It depends on the context and how she said it. Part of what makes therapy effective is by offering an arena where none of the normal norms of society apply, and both patient and therapist can be completely open and honest. If she becomes aware of disliking your manners and communicate this to you, then your next step should be to pay attention to what feelings, fantacies, memories etc this triggers in you and try your best to articulate these. Then she can help you explore and understand these. Do think normal that when I tell her I don't like my job she says that I need to get more experience to get another one where I told her that I am working on my own personal business? It might be. What kind of business are you working on? Part of her job is to force her patient to confront the hard realities of his life, making it harder to hide behind unrealistic fantacies. Do you think normal that a psychologist doesn't give any exercise to a patient? Yes. This depends on your symptoms. A lot of psychriatric patients primarily need an arena where they can get help figuring out their shit. If you want something like cbt exercises, you can just google these.

When we meditate on the breath, all kinds of weird sensation will show up from time to time. It's just a weird thing the mind starts doing, and something you will get used to. These novel sensations don't mean much, but our monkey minds can be distracted and facinated by them and start ascribing them significance and meaning. The best way to deal with them is to just make a mental note that you are aware of whats occuring, let it be, and return your focus of attention back to the breath.

For me my main motivation is that I find the process of learning very pleasureable. I have spent enormous amount of time reading books and essays on topics that have no utillity for me. I just suddnly get curious about something and feel driven to research it. Sometimes the drive last houres, other times months. In adition to this recreational research I also make sure to set of some time for more pragmatic research ob lifestyle/personality/spiritual growth, and on topics related to my career.

This is the book that got me started on my spiritual path, and inspired me to undergo years of psychodynamic therapy. Other psychologists who had a major influence on me include: Victor Frankl (Existential psychology) - 'Man's Search for Meaning' is the book that made me realize the importance of meaning, it's superiority to hedonism, and conviced me that finding meaning lies at the core of being human. Daniel Kahneman (Behavioural psychology, Cognitive biases) - Reading his Noble Prize awarded 'Thinking Fast and Slow' is hands down the most eye opening, self-insight boosting reading experience I have ever had. Carol Dweck (Developmental and Social Psychology) - Her main work is 'Mindset'. This was monumental to the way i related to learning. David D. Burns (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) - Reading 'Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy' made me realize how most of my thoughtstream was irrational BS, and that I had the power to change my patterns of though.

Ok, I'm not experienced in kriya, so I can't comment about that. My only yoga practice is very meridian-focused form of yin yoga. It is generaly accepted than one should avoid energy work unless working with a teacher, since the subtle energy system can be quite fragile. Heres an sadguru blogpost discussing this http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/yoga-meditation/demystifying-yoga/kundalini-plug-into-the-source-of-creation/ "So many people have come to me who have lost their mental balance and physical capabilities because they tried to do Kundalini Yoga without the necessary guidance and assistance. If the necessary supportive atmosphere is not there, simply attempting to raise kundalini could be very irresponsible and dangerous" What do you mean when you say "I will never trust any teacher"? Do you have trust issues, or do you think this is a rational position?

This is an okey starting point. For now just ignore advanced/acoteric conceps like opening your third eye. In heneral you shouldn't ness around too much with chakras/kundalini without the guidance of a teacher. I would advice you to just focus on the basics. Relax your muscles, and mind. Keep your spine straight. Set your intention to follow the breath. Once in a while do a quick bodyscan to find and release tensions. Anytime you notice you are mind wandering congratulate yourself on becomming avare of it, move your focus back to the breath. Untill you can stay focused on the breath for at least 15-20 min, dont try anything more fancy than this.

The words argue/argument can be confusing because they are used in two very different contexts. On one hand, arguing can be a form of verbal fight/competition where you try to beat the competitor by making your views appear supperior to his. On the other hand arguing can mean explaining why you believe some idea to be true/plausible or not.

@Faceless My experience is that meditation cause longer, more vivid dreams. When I'm on retreat I have incredibly long and complex dreams. I have also heard other experienced meditators mention this. I know there are some research indicating that meditation increases the portion of the night you spend in REM, wich might explain this phenomenon.

I agree with @Kimasxi and @aurum. Don't fall into the trap of being a moral perfectionist. Don't stumble uncounciously into martyrdom. It's okey to be a bit selfish sometimes. Our minds are ecosystems of competing sub-minds. Self-acceptance is about accepting the totality of this eco system, not just the noblest parts. Sometimes we have strong undeniable yearnings that we are not proud of. Whether we like it or not, those are part of us. Rejecting parts of ourselves is the essence of neurosis. Anyone frequenting Actualized.org probably agree that we should give higher priority to our more noble aspirations, but it’s okay to throw a bone to some of your not-so-noble sides as well. It's all about balance.

My first therapist had me exploring my dreams a lot . Unfortunately there are no objective way to analyze a dream. Exploring the meaning of a dream is more of an art than a science. It's a trial-and-error task. Trying to follow a fixed formula is a dead end, becourse it can not capture the complexities of the individuals mind. All you can do is to try your best to explore whatever thoughts, feelings, memories etc that arise in conection to the dream. If you are lucky these can shine a little bit of light on some dark corner of your mind.

In the imortal words of newer age guru JP Sears Competitive spirituality is the GPS that takes you to destination Ultra Spiritual. Like anything in which the objective is to be better than those you’re better than, spiritual competition serves as the legs you walk on—the same legs you will use to walk over (or stomp on) your competition. This holds water in Ultra Spirituality as well. More accurately, it holds holy water. Lots of it. There should be a very intentional, yet subtly expressed, competitive element to everything you do in your spiritual practice if you wish to become Ultra Spiritual. And you shouldn’t even wish for it, because that’s just child’s play. You should intend it. In order for you to stop wishing and start intending so you can actually make it happen, let me exemplify this point with a contrasting example about statements of competitive spiritual deeds: In the noncompetitive spirituality example, there’s no foothold for traction to propel you up the mountain of asserting your betterness, as Jesus, Lord Krishna, and probably even God teach in their spiritual mastery ways. In the competitive spirituality version, there’s a subtle quantification, which is a measurement by which others can measure themselves against you. An ideal result would have your companion/competition thinking, preferably in a self-defeating internal tone of voice, I only meditate for twenty minutes. I’m less of a person. This internal dialogue is the fragrant fruit of your Ultra Spiritual practice. However, if your opponent’s internal dialogue says something like, "Well, I meditate for two hours each morning," then sadly the ground will crumble beneath your feet and you will slide down the slippery slope of insignificance. If this happens, your competition has obviously read this book more thoroughly than you, which puts your dreams of Ultra Spirituality in jeopardy, which means you should be extremely worried at this point. Nevertheless, keep reading.

Science is not a dogma. Science is founded upon the recognition most of our believes are flawed. Science is just the systematic search for these flaws. It's not about ending up with absolute knowledge, but rather about the journey of constantly weeding out incorrect assumptions. Introspection is a useful tool, but it has it's limitations. The main problem with introspection is that it's easily corrupted by our unconcious biases. Many biases work subconsciously, are undetectable and thus often uncorrectable, despite our efforts. I would argue that reading a scientific book like Kahnemans "Thinking fast and slow" will bring greater self-insight than hundreds of houres of introspection, becourse of the way it forces you to face your own biases.

Are you seeing a therapist, or are you planing to start therapy? If not, what is holding you back?

Its like asking "whats the best way to work out". It depends on what you want to achieve by working out. If you look into meditation research you will find that that different methods affects different brainregions, and thereby produce different mental changes

If your mind is very noisy, meditating on a mantra can often be a great way to quiet your inner dialoge.

I dont follow your line of thinking. What makes you assume we have had previous lives? And what makes you assume everyone got awakened in some previous life?

Clubs might feel like they are made to intimidate you, like @aurum wrote, but they are really meant to be a place for you to let go and simply have fun. Do you know how to dance? If not that is probably what you should work on if you want to truely enjoy night clubs. Take a dance class, or just practice at home. @brovakhiin: Standing still in the middle of the dancefloor for 10 min, dosn't sound any fun. I would say you should rather dance as wildly as you can. Let go into the music. Let the rythms and poitive energy of the room flow through you and force yourself to start dancing. When you first enter the dancefloor your ego will scream in agony "Stop! You will look foolish!!" and "they will judge you!!". Be like, "Fuck you, Ego! This is MY mind, I'm in charge around here. Im making an executive decition on this one!" Threat the music and body sensations as your object of meditation. Any time your ego screams load enough to distract you, just label it "ego" or whatever works for you, and return your focus back to the music.

Of course it's okey. It's even a wise choise. As a 20 year old your main focus should be gaining life experiences, figuring out who you are and building a life style that suits your particular peculiarities. Enlightenment is an extremly long term goal. Many spend decades in monestaries without attaining it. Definitely do some meditation/yoga but by all means avoid spiritual bypassing: using spiritual practices as a way to avoid the pain/hussle of having to deal with your shit. Enlightenment is not some magical cure to all problems. It is simply fully waking up to the life you are living already. In the words of Buddhist teatcher Daniel Ingram "first make sure you have a life you actually want to wake up to".

Could you please translate your neologism "knowledge graph" into common English? From what I can see you are just a bit confused about the distinction between right (as in the opposite of wrong), and a moral/social Right. Rights are not objective facts, but statements about what a person shouldn't be denied. Therefor two people can disagree about Rights without any of them being right or wrong in an objective sense. Right can be either subjective (claiming a right that's not widely recognized within a given culture) or intersubjective (widely recognized within a given culture), but never objective.

Happy to hear you quit that lifestyle. It sounded quite unbalanced and unhealthy. Why did you decide to dedicate 4 hours a day to sungazing?