Forestluv

I’ve had to work through “over-seriousness” blocks. There are also aspects of ease, flow, humor, absurdity and silliness that I need to allow and accept.

@Baldmunt This looks like a great personal development framework. One thing I find helpful is to find a balance between having specific, measurable goals and flexibility. If I become to rigid on goals I lose the underlying passion, it then becomes “to do list work” and I may burn out and lise interest. For example, I was super excited to train for a marathon and qualify for the Boston Marathon. I reasearched lots of training plans and assembled a detailed training plan. I extended this to include a specific diet and sleep schedule. I made a 100% commitment to never miss a day. In the past, missing a day led to missing two days etc. Yet, this training plan was way to rigid and sucked all the fun out of running. I was constantly putting pressure on myself to meet short-term goals. I forced myself to run when it was raining or when I had mild injuries and my body was telling me to slow down. I became so focused on pace and times that my running buddies didn’t enjoy running with me so much. On race day, the weather was rainy / windy and I finished 20min slower than my goal time and failed to qualify. I beat myself up for a while and had no desire to run again. A month later, I realized all the underlying juice and passion was sucked out. What I really wanted was to get healthy, run solo and with friends. So I totally changed my approach. I would only run 4 days a week to allow flexibility. When the weather was bad or I had aches and pains, I could go to the gym and lift or swim. I started cycling. I met new oeople and started doing triathlons. I focused more on experience than times. I started trail running and listened to spiritual speakers, like Adyashanti, while I ran. So having some structure, goals and discipline is important. Yet it’s the underlying passion that is the fuel juice. Create a plan that nurtures that passion or life will become bland and going through the motions. The journey and destination go hand in hand. Focusing too much on the destination will leave a person missing out in the beautiful journey. And sometimes the true destination is not what we had imagined.

@Arcangelo It’s not so much the outer expression, it’s more about the underlying motivation. Blue traits include rules/order, discipline and appeal to an aithority. A family is an appealing environment to express these traits. The father can express his authoritarian values and enforce rules/order for the family to follow. Just dating someone with no kids, wouldn’t offer the same opportunity. It still could be expressed through other avenues such as politics or law. Yet, I think someone blue centered would generally be oriented toward creating and maintaining a particular family structure.

All you need is in this thread. It’s how I got started.

I didn’t say you couldn’t. I said my sense is that you've had some direct experience at a deeper level and are at an immature stage of development with it, This is quite common since the self likes to contextualize and take ownership of experience.

@Highest My sense is you’ve had some direct experience with nonduality and are at an immature developmental stage with it.

For my personality, that’s not a good question. My mindset would become oriented toward outcomes and I would likely start trying to steer things toward an intended outcome. I would start trying to define the relationship and evaluate where we are and if we are making progress. That might be a good orientation for other couples though.

@PetarKa There are post-personal sources of desire that aren’t about seeking to fulfill self needs.

@flowboy I was in a similar dynamic with my last relationship. Then I spent six months caring for myself. Introspection, learning to self love, starting new hobbies, cooking healthy meals for myself, learning self massage, yoga etc. It helped a lot - for both awakenings and personal development. One of my personality patterns is trying to please others. I would do lots of loving things to please a partner, that I would never do for myself.

@cetus56 What would be the underlying motivation of self-immolation? To raise awareness of the abuse to buddhist monks? To inspire supporters of the cause? As an act of solidarity to other monks that had been abused and killed? All of the above? It seems the act marked a turning point that helped promote international awareness / pressure and collapse of the current regime. I'd also think the level of social consciousness and timing to be key, in terms of stimulating social change. I don't think this type of act would do squat in the U.S. right now.

There have been buddhist monks that felt compassion for the suffering that their torturers were experiencing.

@OmniYoga I find imagery to be helpful to integrate what is now to the timeline. I imagine a horizontal line as the timeline. This includes the story of "me", all my memories and personal experiences. It also includes everything in the future - hopes, goals, ambitions, personal development, planning etc. The Now is a vertical line that bisects the horizontal timeline. Most mind-bodies are conditioned to live within the horizontal timeline. Perhaps 99% of their waking life is within the timeline. Most people get a few glimpses of Now, yet they are often very brief and usually go unnoticed. Yet, everyone has had a conscious glimpse of Now. Perhaps being in awe of a starlit sky, being in "the zone" while playing a sport or musical instrument, melting away with a lover during sex. All of these transient conscious states involve a melting away of the timeline - a melting away of "me" - my story, my opinions, my goals etc. These glimpses can be wonderful, yet because we are so conditioned to live within the timeline - experiencing now is often uncomfortable and boring. How often have you sat and admired an insect pollinating a flower in the moment - to the point you are fully immersed in the beauty and awe of what is happening Now? For most people, not very often. This would be "time to kill" and they would probably be thinking about the past or worrying about the future or getting distracted on their cell phone. So most humans have very little direct experience on the vertical axis of what is Now - yet they assume there is much too it. However, it goes deep. That vertical line goes way up and way down. There is so much to explore on the vertical Now axis - as much as on the horizontal timeline axis. When seekers start catching on to the vertical axis of Now, I often see them question, and even reject, the horizontal timeline axis. They say the horizontal timeline is an illusion and only the vertical Now is real. I think this can be very helpful at times to focus on exploring this new awareness of Now. Yet, pushing away the timeline or trying to act like it doesn't exist causes stress and turmoil along the horizontal timeline - in particular it is really unhealthy for the psychological self. For example, one may read an Eckhart Tolle quote about only Now exists. To a novice mind-body, it is tempting to think "Well, if only Now exists it doesn't matter what I do. I can sit around eating junkfood and playing video games all day". Yet this would be an immature reaction to a much deeper insight.

It depends on what you consider to be a "bad" trip. An evaluation of "good" or "bad" would necessitate a contextualization of the mind-body experience. Without that context, the question cannot be answered. For example, an aspect of psychedelics is that distinctions dissolve. Here judgments to distinguish between "good" and "bad" dissolves. After the experience, duality returns and the mind can make judgments and adds "good" and "bad" labels to an experience in which "good" and "bad" did not exist. This is true for sober experiences as well, yet it is much more dramatic with psychedelic trips because the mechanism can get disabled. If the mechanism is only partially disabled, there can be a struggle to maintain control. This can induce feelings of anxiety in the mind-body.

It's not rare at all. I think it's actually quite common. Yet for most people it is subconscious and they are not aware of it. I've experienced this dynamic both subconsciously and consciously. It can be difficult to regulate one's behavior with this dynamic since there is an ongoing filter monitoring whether a particular behavior will increase or decrease the chance of her staying/leaving. This can lead to people pleasing, seeking validation, passive aggressiveness and other types of behaviors that cause separation. There may be brief periods of relief and wonderful connection - for example melting with her during sex. Yet what happens later? The filter kicks back in "This is so wonderful. . . wait a second. . . what if it ends? What if I'm not "XYZ" enough?. . . " Then the program starts. I've also found that this dynamic prevents what is so wonderful - the pure spontaneity and connection in the moment. The humor, creativity, spontaneity, playfulness, gazing into each others eyes, deep love, experimenting together etc. That "what if" filter robs a relationship of it's most beautiful aspects. Yet the dissolution of that filter is not easy and involves a form of surrender that the psychological self will resist. . .

There are so many possible settings. I’ve had about 40 different settings that yielded deep insights. For set, a mind that is relaxed and ready to let go and travel to wherever the trip goes. Ime, there is a correlation with my mindset and practices the week leading up to the trip and yhe theme of the trip. For example, if I’ve been contemplating the nature of form and formless a lot, there is a higher chance there will be related insights during the trip. Yet its not something I can expect.

It depends on the person. As well, there are different degrees of non-dual experience/insight. I would say to ensure a strong nondual trip: 150ug LSD or 3.5g dried mushrooms. LSD is standard (assuming it's properly dosed). Mushroom potency can vary quite a bit. Yet, these dosages are high enough to enter ego death and may induce anxiety in some users.

@Actualizer777 It sounds like you are oriented toward seeking external entertainment and pleasure for the mind-body. Your internal world is as vast as your external world. Perhaps balance the seeking energy between introspective and extrospective.

@Thequestioningacc I would back up the truck and self inquire: "What is create?", "What is universe?".

@DeannaDevil The human mind gets conditioned to distraction and wanting some thing not here and now. It can take a while to de-condition that tendency. Watching a butterfly dance through the air and pollinate flowers is absolutely fascinating. It is so unbelievably beautiful and mind-blowing. Why don't most mind-body's notice this? Perhaps because they are distracted, or worrying, or thinking about how something is not enough or how they want some thing. With this orientation, the mind-body will miss out on the magnificence of life that is right in front of us. Here and Now.

@Mafortu In the beginning and in the end, is nothing. Emptiness. From that emptiness arises distinctions. Trees, leaves, grass, cars, anger, love, good, bad, me, you and on and on. Intellectually, the mind creates categories, separation and meaning. What lies prior to all of that? As well, there is the intellectual thinking and trying to figure things out, and there is the emotional and experiential. Notice how your mind is more engaged in intellectual dynamics, rather than experience. What is your mind-body experience with such matters? (without any thought or analysis) Just two years ago, I went through a stage in which awakening and spiritual growth involved love, connection and bliss as well as insecurity, anxiety and terror. I often spoke about how people seek only the love, connection and bliss in spirituality and try to deny the insecurity, anxiety and terror of spirituality. They are two sides of the same coin. Yet as I worked through all of these dynamics, attachment and identification to beliefs and the personal story began to dissolve. What remains once The Story is no longer the main act in town? Ime, the insecurity, anxiety and terror began to dissolve and a more pure form of peace and love had space to emerge. That's not to say that my mind-body no longer has physiological sensations of insecurity and anxiety. Yet, there is an awareness of how these thoughts and sensations are associated with a personal self.

I would let go, detach and observe the mind-body. Trying to push away unpleasant feelings and seek pleasant feelings often just reinforces the dynamic.

Looks like a Turquoise bud about to bloom. Just in time for Spring. ? ?

I understand the question, yet there is no opening for the deeper answer. I have already answered your question at the human level. Based on an imaginary construct of enlightenment, the answer is “no”.

@tecladocasio Be aware when the mind assumes it knows what is understood. This is a major block to learning and expansion.