What types of spirituality is purely a distraction?

[Butters]

So my housemate is really into spirituality, including all sorts of paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories. 

Having raised my consciousness through personal development myself, I'm often quite skeptical about the stuff he's into and I can clearly see how he's stereotypically stage Green. 

But it got me thinking: to what extend should we buy into spiritual "teachings" that aren't about nonduality? For example, my housemate often says he sees the numbers 1111 in every day life and he sees these as mysterious signs. See this video 

As someone who's trying to follow Leo's teachings, I find this sorta stuff confusing and I'm not sure if skepticism is the right response here or not. 

Should you dive deep into everything, even if it could be a distraction? 

[cirkussmile]

As long as you don’t get stuck I see no problem. 

[RabbitHole]

Jump into everything that you get attracted to, nothing is happening randomly. You will find exactly what you need at the exact time when you are ready for It. I've been trough all kinds of self-improvement, spiritual, psychological, various philosophies/religions starting from regular christianity, buddhism, hinduism to occultism, magic, alchemy etc. sources. It was all interesting and beneficial so drop any assumptions and jump in, in whatever you feel like.

[Viking]

the questions I ask to decide whether i join some new age stuff are the following:

can this benefit me in any way? is it just superstition?

lets say I try the thing, do I see that its working? does it hinder my growth in other areas?

[Highest]

There is only one path to Truth, meditation. Reading about spirituality can help a little bit in your journey but ultimately you have to do the work to get results. The green is interested in spirituality but has not even began nor can he enter the spiritual realm, that requires extreme open mindedness.

[0000will0000]

@Butters  Most "types" of spirituality are distraction. Everything outside of you is a distraction from looking within. Be skeptical of everything. There is no need to dive deep into anything other than yourself. All of the answers are within. All of them. Of course, there are many signposts, "hints from god" if you will. Actualized.org is a signpost. But the true answers are within. Ultimately, all teachings are distractions also, even those about nonduality. It is very easy to confuse the concept and understanding of nonduality with nonduality itself. Nonduality is an untouchable, momentary beingness.

As for the video you posted: Reality is mathematical; but, when it comes to discovering the deepest truth, the only math one must know is that nothing equals infinity and infinity equals nothing. There is no inherent significance in 1111. Our minds have an affinity for meaning, so if you by chance see the number 1111 a few times, and assume that there must be some meaning behind it, your mind will subconsciously start looking for that number combination, and thus will end up finding it more often.

When I was at university, I looked at my phone at 12:34 three times in a row within 36 hours. Then, the next time it was 12:34, I was tripping on mushrooms, and at one point, when I looked at my phone, it was 12:34. Being in a "more mystical state than usual," I assumed it meant something. After that night, I started seeing the time 12:34 all the time. I didn't know what it meant, but it must have meant something!.....right? Now that I've matured, and realized what was actually happening, I still sometimes see 12:34, but I don't attribute any meaning to it, because I know there is none. Lastly, remember, our minds are designed to recognize patterns. That's what reality is: a pattern. That's why we recognize it. If it was utter chaos, we wouldn't recognize anything. For that reason, we are more likely to notice patterns such as 1111 and 1234 more often than chaotic combinations such as 3547 or 9762.

Cheers!

[0000will0000]

@Feel Good Teal Swan is another signpost, just like Leo. We must remember that the teachers we follow are humans, just like us. Teal Swan is not perfect, and neither is Leo. Leo didn't reach his 30-day meditation goal, he's said he still feels addicted to the internet, he's said he sometimes struggles with compassion because he wants to help others but can get frustrated with ignorance in the process. These teachers are learning, too, and in the process they are trying to share what they've learned. If we critically analyze anyone, we are sure to find flaws. Instead, it is more important to feel another being, and to clearly see what they are doing with their time and energy. Is Teal Swan perfect? No. Are all her videos perfect? No. Does she still struggle? Of course. But, her net contribution to humanity is far more positive than it is negative. She has helped many people, and many who feel negatively about her videos are merely projecting their negativity onto her. Sometimes she speaks in mythological metaphor, and sometimes she talks about wishy-washy new age topics as if they are brute facts; these are her beliefs and we should take them with a grain of salt. But, feel her energy instead of analyzing her: she is a positive force, and in a world filled with so much negativity, we ought to be appreciative of any positive force we come across. Cheers =] <3

[WelcometoReality]

@Butters If you are in to spirituality for finding truth I see no reason to waste your time on these things. Use it for spitual practices instead.

[Nahm]

@Butters Someone who gives you dogma is not enlightened and their focus on them, though they might not realize this. Someone who tells you to do the practices and adopt a healthy lifestyle of well being is interested in helping you. All spirituality is ultimately not it, but it helps get you practicing and living healthy, and it expands your mind so you can realize self.

[Solace]

Everything, and I mean everything is a distraction except for love. Except for remaining heart centered instead of mind centered. It’s liberating, and makes everything so straight forward knowing this.

[Recursoinominado]

7 hours ago, RabbitHole said:

Jump into everything that you get attracted to, nothing is happening randomly. You will find exactly what you need at the exact time when you are ready for It. I've been trough all kinds of self-improvement, spiritual, psychological, various philosophies/religions starting from regular christianity, buddhism, hinduism to occultism, magic, alchemy etc. sources. It was all interesting and beneficial so drop any assumptions and jump in, in whatever you feel like.

Exactly what i think and do. I came to a point that i had to admit that i probably don't know shit about what's true or not. I found myself believing things that before i would scream "non-sense!". life gave my humility to be open-minded to anything, now i take everything that comes to me with an "hmm lets try this, who knows" attitude and it is going great for me, learning and growing a lot more, talking and judging a lot less. 

 

Ram Dass said something along the lines: All methods are traps and you have to let yourself be trapped in order to work. The only hope is for them to self-destruct in order to go beyond them. He often talked about "professional meditators" and if you ask them what are they, they will define themselves as meditators. If you ask them whether they prefer to be a meditator or be free, they will prefer to be a meditator. In essence, don't be attached, use your inner guru to decide what method you need in the moment and be aware to let go of it at any time.  For a long time i felt that formal meditations (like vipassana or kriya yoga) weren't doing any good for me in the sense that i was feeling like shit, totally out of touch with "reality" but i thought that i NEEDED to have a formal meditation practice although it was doing me more harm than good, until i learned that there was a LOT of paths and they all work, i just had to listen to my intuition. Now i focus on karma yoga and bhakti yoga, is more like a moment by moment meditation,just being aware, trying to be loving, accepting and listen to the divine inteligence. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Recursoinominado