The "super-fun-enlightenment-poll"

[Falk]

Yo my swaggy friends, this is the "super-fun-enlightenment & meditation-poll"  with 7 questions

(i´m german so excuse my mistakes & don´t be a grammar nazi we germans don´t like that!)

Edited August 4, 2016 by Falk

[Ozzy]

Cool topic, but question 4 lacks the answer: "used drugs for different purposes". 

[cetus]

35 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Cool topic, but question 4 lacks the answer: "used drugs for different purposes". 

" used drugs for a  different purpose and experienced something unexpected that lead me here"

[Falk]

9 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Cool topic, but question 4 lacks the answer: "used drugs for different purposes". 

@cetus56

yep you are right, forgot that one, should have known since this was the case with myself  let´s just say we all kinda unconsciously did it because of "spiritual growth reasons" anyways , we just didn´t knew back then  so it is answer a) 

Edited August 5, 2016 by Falk

[Falk]

In question 3 most of you answered that "self-inquiry" help you most.

I personaly find "self-inquiry" a bit difficult, since i usually end up at a point where i feel "this is useless", i suspect i´m doing it wrong, 

what exactly do you do in self-inquiry, can someone explain what it is exactly. 

i just understand now that it is not literaly asking yourself questions and getting rational answers (which i tried before and always get stuck , obviously very soon) 

Any advise for me? 

Edited August 5, 2016 by Falk

[cetus]

@Falk Personally, I haven't done much self inquiry work so I can't be to helpful with that. Have you seen Leo's Neti-Neti video yet? I would think that would bring similar progress as self-inquiry would. I just watched it for the first time and thought it was excellent.

[Falk]

3 minutes ago, cetus56 said:

@Falk Personally, I haven't done much self inquiry work so I can't be to helpful with that. Have you seen Leo's Neti-Neti video yet? I would think that would bring similar progress as self-inquiry would. I just watched it for the first time and thought it was excellent.

yeah, i just read an article about self-inquiry (ramana marashi method) and how it is similar to neti-neti , this helped me a bit , i´m motivated to try self-inquiry with a new aproach, (lol no wonder i had no succes i assumed self-inquiry to be smth totaly different, more like a rational internal dialog, which always lead to an impasse for me XD) Thx! ..here is the arcticle if you are interessted (quick read, but helpful)

http://www.hridaya-yoga.com/meditation-retreats/what-is-hridaya-meditation/the-self-inquiry-method-of-ramana-maharshi/

[cetus]

@Falk Thanks, I just read that. It seems to break the mind of all questions. Almost like a koan would do? I once experienced a state of consciousness where all questions ceased to exist. That was but one of the aspects of that experience. Any question became totally redundant to even think of or ask. I remember that experience well so when my mind starts asking to many questions, I think of that place where all questions become meaningless. A deep calm and stillness within the mind is all that remains.  This may be what self-inquiry tries to accomplish.

[cetus]

53 minutes ago, Falk said:

i usually end up at a point where i feel "this is useless",

@Falk When you start feeling this way, this may be part of the process working? Maybe try banging into that feeling of "this is useless" over and over like hitting a solid wall again and again and see what happens. Any process that causes the mind to surrender is a good process. Usually that happens when the mind gets frustrated and finally gives in. Again, I'm not all that familiar with self-inquiry and how it works so other's advise may be better.

[99th_monkey]

When doing self inquiry, feel into the process of the question and answering that's going on, try to be a presence that is witnessing both the questioning and the answering that is coming up. If the thought "this is useless" comes up, try to question and inquire into who or what this is useless for, and then figure out what that is, confusion is the mother of insight like necessity is the mother of invention

Don't give up.