RickyFitts

'Spiritual awakening is a remembering. It is not becoming something that we are not. It is not about transforming ourselves. It is not about changing ourselves. It is a remembering of what we are, as if we'd known it long ago and had simply forgotten.' - Adyashanti 'In a true awakening, it is realized very clearly that even the awakening itself is not personal. It is universal Spirit or universal consciousness that wakes up to itself. Rather than the "me" waking up, what we are wakes up from the "me". What we are wakes up from the seeker. What we are wakes up from the seeking.' - Adyashanti

I wasn't arguing, I was just trying to clarify. I thought rape was the wrong term in this context, but I was wrong.

@Tyler Robinson @Proserpina Fair point guys, I wasn't clear on the exact definition. Apologies for any offence caused, I was just trying to explain why people might have been confused when Tyler said she was a virgin (I was confused, too).

@Tyler Robinson The British Metropolitan Police definition cites penetration by a penis specifically: https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rsa/rape-and-sexual-assault/what-is-rape-and-sexual-assault/#:~:text=The legal definition of rape,without the other person's consent. And I think that's what people tend to assume when someone uses the word.

I believe the legal definition of rape is non-consensual penetration by a penis specifically - what you experienced was sexual assault, not rape. Which isn't to try and diminish the severity of the ordeal, obviously, but that's what caused the confusion when you said you were a virgin.

I personally don't care either way, whether they're a virgin or they've had lots of sexual partners. We're sexual beings, so it's only to be expected that we have sex - I'm not saying it's something I especially want to think about, but I don't see how it's my business how much sex my partner's had in the past, and I don't see how it's my place to judge one way or the other. Keep in mind that if you have a problem with your partner's sexual history, then it's exactly that - it's your problem, and it reflects something about you, not them.

Such an important aspect of spiritual development I think, certainly for myself, and I imagine for many others, too - I don't think nearly enough attention is paid to our emotional lives, and yet it is hugely, hugely important, because trapped emotions are energy, and when that energy isn't flowing, we're going to run into all sorts of issues (mental, emotional, physical, energetic, and also in terms of how we relate to others) and we're never really going to be free. Took me a long time to figure out the importance of this work, and it's something that I don't think is appreciated nearly enough in spiritual circles - far, far too much mental masturbation that just turns into tail-chasing, more often than not. Excellent passage, thanks for sharing (I'm about to start rereading 'Falling Into Grace' too, funnily enough).

'Whatever is done lovingly, with righteous purity and with peace of mind, is a good action. Everything which is done with the stain of desire and with agitation filling the mind is classified as a bad action.' - Ramana Maharshi

Yep, it can all too easily become just another form of fundamentalism. Just another set of beliefs for people to hide behind, rather than do the hard yards of spiritual practice - a complete cop-out.

Well worth a read for anyone who's serious about spiritual development: https://spiritualawakeningprocess.com/2022/09/7-signs-of-spiritual-progress.html

I don't throw the word 'transcendent' around lightly, but this song is worthy of the word:

Is there a part of you that feels like you shouldn't be feeling angry? I find that that inner resistance to what we're feeling is what tends to keep us stuck there - and unfortunately, this sort of mentality is extremely common in humans, we're basically trained to repress our emotions from a young age. So we just end up bottling up our feelings, and this can create all sorts of agitation, irritation, unhappiness, even illness and physical issues. Be conscious of that inner resistance, notice how it manifests in your body as tightness and tension, and allow those areas of your body to relax and breathe. Other emotions like fear and sorrow, maybe even an intensification of the anger, may start to arise as you do this - keep coming back to the body, just keep allowing it to relax and breathe.

This video just came up on my Youtube stream, and I'm sharing it here because I think what Mackler's saying here is hugely, hugely important, given the influence that Peterson has on a lot of people at the moment. Mackler focuses particularly on the fifth rule of Peterson's '12 Rules For Life': 'Don't let your child do something that makes you dislike them.' He points out the flaws in this rule, how it's only liable to screw up children even more:

Not been my experience at all, I've developed deep emotional connections with a few women over the years without having sex with them first. If you're compassionate, empathic, open, a good listener, and willing to be vulnerable, women will develop an attachment to you; of course it can easily become dysfunctional if you're not careful (as I've experienced in the past), but for me personally I would want to have that emotional connection with a woman before having sex with her, I think that's a far healthier foundation for a long-term relationship.

@BlessedLion No worries. ?

Mm, that was my feeling, too - my sense of it is that it tends to be a very humbling process and can pretty much bring you to your knees, or at least that's how it's been in my experience.

Do you actually know this through your own direct experience, or is it just something you've heard about?

I don't think there are hard-and-fast rules about it, it might be a viable path for one person but not for another - I've tried it but didn't feel it was right for me personally, but I can see how it could be effective for others. I do think it's a specialised practice, though, and it's going to be too intense for a lot of people; I think a gentler, more gradual process is going to be much more effective and harmonious in the long-run for the majority of people, but people in our culture often lack the patience and try to force things, and then end up paying for it further down the line (that's how it was for me, too, to an extent, I had to learn the hard way to be patient and not push myself too hard).

Depends on the person I think, some people's nervous systems and psyches aren't going to be able to handle the energetic charge if they have a lot of unprocessed trauma in their systems, and so a gentler, more gradual approach would be more appropriate for them. Hopefully Venant appreciates this, because kundalini energy can be incredibly destabilising if your system isn't ready for it.