Hello Nico Cost.  I do not know your work, but nice to meet you.  Very Strange: my first couple of hours after finding this global-south web site, and I see two of your posts, this one and the one on Islam.  You have been here a year, me a day.

With regard to this experiment, I would say I am very opinionated.  But still, I followed your advice, to do it first and then write about it.  I have sat with it a several times.  I explain to myself that I have a long (enough) experience with these matters.  “Enough” means that what I have determined, consistently “works” in the laboratory of my life.

I am quite sure that, with myself and others, (and it may be anecdotal), that my feeling sense changes the same MOMENT I change my definition.  Tracts are not welded into your brain by xx years of habit, but by refusing to change that old definition (that belief).  It is normal and I don’t denigrate it.  It is the balance between expanding and grounding.  You cannot live only by expanding.  You have to make up a story about reality and be “grounded’ in it.  You have to pretend that you know where you are, or you feel topsy-turvy.

Why do people meditate, or seek spirituality?  The answer is invariable that their life is defined as deficient. 

Meditation’s origin is your negative self-definition and judgments about this stage of your life.  If everything was well, why would you deviate from it?  Well, in ancient spiritual lore, most people probably did live pretty miserably.  Think about it.  Hunter-gatherers did not have a surplus that they could store.  If food got scarce, they migrated or followed the herd.  Since there was no wealth, they didn’t need to fight over it, they were more egalitarian. (They fought over other things.)

Agrarian society ushered in the surplus, (wealth) and men of power were born to confiscate, control and distribute it.  That was a beginning of subjugation, and then; of spiritual seeking for a way out.  People make up excuses about it. Some will even say that “source” (God) sends us adversity so that humanity can grow by contemplating it.  WHAT BUNK, but it’s comforting to many people.

So many spiritual teachings swear that life is suffering, including the base tenant of Buddhism.  I have talked directly (face to face) with a 100 modern spiritual teachers.  Many feed you the image that the strongest desire, (always yearning), to get out of your “suffering” will bring enlightenment.  How “counterproductive” to life can you get?  They teach pure poison.

If you could learn to work with your verbal definitions, or someone would teach it, (your verbal model of reality), all contradictions and so-called stress could dissolve, or at least be reduced.   As you quoted above “Busy-Busy, or stress is only in the mental field, and it is an illusion.” Mental field is not a mystical thing, it is only your verbal model of reality.  It is in our societal agreements, our cultural stereotype of accepted behavior.  So as an individual, if you stop creating “stress” with distorted definitions, (even as society keeps reinforcing contradiction), there will be no need to resolve anything, and no need to meditate or seek any way-out.

I doubt of such an ingrained narrative, such as honoring spiritual-lore, can be explained in a comment.  I could easily write a book about it.  To me it is all “borrowed-thought” (even from the masters), that may jump-start you to “somewhere”.  But you can’t jump in the middle of someone else’s life process.  It will always be foreign. You really have to build on your own process from the bottom up.  It is not all that difficult, but we now live in a world of short-cuts.

Hello Nico Cost, nice to hear from you.  I apologize that my reply rhythm might be delayed, but rest assured that I will answer most of your valuable comments, on this thread and the others.  I just delayed one more day here, because I wanted to try the 2nd experiment which I hadn’t been doing.  Things seem to be opening up pretty fast, so what I write now may be short lived.

How do we touch other people’s lives here on this forum?  On other word-press forums, statistics show how many posts and how many views.  Here we know nothing about views, only number of posts and number of voices.  Views are only evident by comments.  Here I made the only comment.  On my thread, Philosophical Underpinnings, you made the only comment.  Are we touching the others? – But one is enough.

We make some statements, either as a proposal, or as “our truth”.  Even my proposals work in my life. Those are our gifts.  Then if the other engages with it, that is how it is received.

BE SURE; I AM RECEIVING YOUR GIFTS.

I followed your advice on the day that I saw it, more than a week ago.  (The first one was enough so I did not even read the throat chakra, but I will do it tonight.  I did.)  I altered the first meditation because I thought it mistaken to have expectations.  So, I omitted the starry sky and the shower of love from the universe.  Now reading the 2nd instructions you do say, “The art in meditating is to expect nothing and not try to direct anything.”  (No visualizations.)

I would now say that all of my life, meditation has had expectations, because spiritual teachers prescribe it as a path toward enlightenment (or awakening, or whatever you want to call it).  Now I see; that my meditations for decades have always been wrecked, by the way in which the teacher presented them.

I have done your process every day, twice a day and sometimes back-to-back, for 3 times in a day.  It is my experiment now.  The latest is that I sit in my favorite chair, and I am already in “stage two”, just by sitting. And I do not use any music.  Music is a timer (8 min), but without it I sit one hour, and then this morning 70 minutes.  I have no urgency to get up.  But that in no way makes me an advanced meditation student.  I would say I am not meditating at all.  I am observing the process of meditation (and “not-preferring thoughts”).  It’s not the same.

WHAT IS MEDITATION THEN?

These are just my definitions out of rationality, not from any ‘spiritual transmission”.  1. many people think contemplation is meditation.  Like every translator of Marcus Aurelius titled his book “Meditations”.  It is not!  It is contemplations. (I like that book, one of my favorites.) But not our subject here.

2.  Many people think visualization is meditation.  You used it, visualizing a starry sky, and the thrilling feeling of that vastness against my smallness.  You suggested to label it as the love of the universe showering down on me.  Yes, maybe that would be a doorway into a great feeling, (but is that meditation or spirituality?)

3.  The only one word in English or any other human language that approaches meditation is “SILENCE”.  It is a NO-THING. It has no qualities.  No concepts, no languages nor communications. (We could claim resonance.)  There is no movement, nor any space/time continuum. So, no location, non-temporal, no light no dark.  Nothing from the material realm about it, no limits from the speed of light.

I propose that Silence IS what some people call “the spiritual realm”.  MEDITATION makes the claim that you can apprehend that.  BUT HOW?

AND WHY?  One way to simplify why, it is to say, why – because it is happening.  I am doing it now.  Maybe that is enough.

How is the instruction: Try to keep your mind as empty as possible. Don’t resist thoughts, but also let them fly by as you focus on your breathing.  But we have to look at the how thoughts can “fly-by”?

WHAT FLOWS THROUGH YOUR MIND? And why is it different than what flows through my mind?  We have to conclude that there is a built-in preference mechanism in each of us, that focuses our individual thoughts.  But we (I) said silence has no qualities.  I am going to propose that we cannot have silence as a preference, because without qualities, there is nothing to visualize, no handles to grab hold of it, and no way to set it up as our priority.  So, the only way to get to silence is to NOT PREFER everything else.

A thought comes up – I don’t prefer that.  A thought comes up – I don’t prefer that.  A thought comes up – I don’t prefer that.  The process is a negation, the skill is how to not to pick-up a thought.  Or since they come pretty fast, how to “set-down” a thought.  It is not a very direct route toward Silence.

Anyhow, without any expectations, it shouldn’t be too upsetting.

I should really stop here.  But I’ll add one supposition. Maybe there could come a point where you can step in and out of silence at will?  Like going through a door.  Is that what happens for you?  For instance.  I claim I can step in and out of emotional reaction at will.  No more difficult than going through an open door.  It is so easy, that I have no fear of letting emotions play; and my life is richer for it, not constrained. Reactions are weightless for me; they have no impact on my being and they don’t automatically create actions, (that I later regret).  (Other people’s repeated reactions can be annoying).

Like I said: I just started with the second offering, so we’ll see if that changes anything?

.

“I am even more than my consciousness, although that consciousness has a lot to do with my soul.”

Hi Nico. Re: your above statement, who would be asking the question above, posited in your post titled, “Connection” above, dated 19 September, if not Soul?

It is perfectly fine to frame it this way, of course, since we are used to using such terminology when referring to Soul, but is this not the mind or ego, referring to Soul?  I hope you will not think I am “splitting hairs” or being impertinent, I am making the point that there is a world of difference between the mind and the Soul. If we undertake a short analysis, the mind is a tool that belongs to a particular sphere or realm of existence we may term the mental plane, (just as the physical body is composed of physical matter and the emotional body is composed of the stuff of the Astral or Emotional Plane). These various bodies are taken on by Soul and worn as garments in order that Soul be able to enter a particular plane of existence so as to experience a cycle of experience ( a lifetime ). When said lifetime is complete, Soul discards the worn-out body or bodies, and returns to a lighter, finer world. Depending on Its karma, It then proceeds with Its spiritual education in a new body, be it on this physical plane, or one of the inner worlds.

The Law of Karma educates Soul in self-responsibility, until It advances to the Law of Love, a higher level of experience / existence.

Insofar as a spiritual exercise is concerned, I personally have been using and reommend the word, “HU” for close to 40 years. There are many historical references to the name, or syllable “HU”, especially in Rumi’s writings, and Hazrat Inayat Khan, a musician and Sufi who lived during the first half of the 20th Century, (in his book, “The Music of the Spheres”.) The foremost proponent of HU today, is Harold Klemp, the spiritual leader of Eckankar, the Path of Spiritual Freedom. He writes;

The secret name for God is known as HU ( pronounced same
as the word hue ), and is woven throughout all human languages and sounds
of nature. The HU is known as a Love song to God, and the bridge between
heaven and earth, and if sung with an attitude of love, brings a noticeable,
positive effect to the practitioner. All charged words sung in contemplation,
meditation, and prayer, are a variation of the HU. HU serves to focus all of
Soul’s energies and thus compels It forward on Its journey back home to God.

Thanks for your reply, Nico.

How we interpret the concepts of Soul, Karma and Reincarnation depends on what we believe in and how we experience it. Since everyone’s experience is different, we will also view those concepts differently. When we want to enrich ourselves with new and deeper insights, we can listen to others and want to understand.

Exactly. Soul takes Its steps when Its good and ready. The only valid criteria is experience and the only true convictions are our own. There is a new home being finalised in the neighbourhood where I live, and driving past recently, it struck me how consciousness is like the neighbourhood we live in. Everything is kind of set in time and space, until a new experience comes along and displaces an old one. After awhile, the old makes way for the new, and the new neighbour takes a prominent place in our world, we “drive past it” every day, and we accept its reality in the “neighbourhood”, our collective body of experience. Over time, the old neighbourhood is entirely replaced by new homes – experiences, or components changing the face of that which was once familiar – until eventually our state of consciousness assumes an entirely different identity, so to speak. Soul is the ultimate work in progress.

Re: ego, the concept of ego is loaded down with way too much baggage, but ego, of course, is entirely necessary as part of Soul’s apparatus or mechanism in order to express itself on the plane It finds Itself on. It is neither good nor bad of itself and reflects who we are inwardly. The important thing is to know that we are more than ego, and not to over-identify with it, b/c of course, this brings great distress due to its impermanent nature.

It’s a very interesting thread you’ve opened. Thank you.

Hello Dimitar, From what you share I understand that the spiritual realm or soul realms have many intricate strands to become familiar with. I can share this quote with you:

“When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the slightest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like, against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.” — Hsin Hsin Ming

How is it possible to have no preferences? We automatically dislike pain and prefer well-being or the absence of pain.  It is built-in.

You may feel that you are not clinging to the past but reaching for something. But Krishnamurti said, “if I reach for something, it is still the past, from memory. How is this past to be dissolved? Because otherwise I am still living in the field of time that is man-made.”

I take it to be saying, if there is ANY STORY WHATSOEVER, You will never touch spirit. You are confined to live in the man-made world of time.

And just why should we depart from the world of time? Is it deficient?

Hi Destination Unknown.

“When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the slightest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like, against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.” — Hsin Hsin Ming

Re: the above, I would definitely agree, with the caveat that the “love” referenced is Divine Love. I make that particular clarification b/c there is a world of difference between human and Divine love. Human love can be generally described as being conditional, whereas Divine Love is unconditional. Having made this distinction, the rest of the quote makes perfect sense. Divine Love is impersonal, and in the final analysis, is synonymous with Truth. Spiritual detachment, the opposite virtue to the mind passion, attachment, is necessary, because It assures Soul’s freedom. Soul, of Itself, can do very little to help or “save the world” of Its own accord, but as a pure vehicle for Divine Spirit, It can “move worlds”. If God and Divine Spirit are impersonal forces, Soul too, must develop this same quality. The principle being “Thy Will, not mine be done.”

How is it possible to have no preferences? We automatically dislike pain and prefer well-being or the absence of pain. It is built-in.

When Soul sets Its feet upon the spiritual path, there is no turning back. That isn’t to say Its journey will proceed in a straight line toward God, on the contrary, Soul’s movement toward God is characterised by one step forward, one step back, two steps forward, one back, and so on. A breakthrough occurs and It may make a significant advance, and so on. The pace at which Soul advances, is Soul’s business alone.

Since every Soul is unique, Its movement toward God will reflect Its unique approach to God, b/c Its understanding is different to the next person’s. It’s experience may be similar to the next Soul but It will understand and react differently. This is known as the Golden Contract, an agreement between God and Soul, that Soul alone is privy to. There is a saying, “God created Soul and threw away the mould”. Every Soul is created of “the same substance” – for purposes of illustration – Soul is created out of the substance of Divine Spirit, in effect it is an individuation of Divine Spirit, or a unit or spark of God. Since the conditions at the moment of Its creation, differ, no two Souls can possibly be alike. A Master artist will never recreate a masterpiece, he will create a unique creation every time.

In the human realm, obviously, we avoid pain as much as possible, but cannot avoid a certain amount of it. By and large, it is the more difficult experiences that bring the greatest growth, so our experience usually becomes that which is most necessary for Soul’s benefit. Since we live in a dual world, it stands to reason that we must experience a certain amount of pain. It is understood, however, that Soul is generally not given more pain than It can endure.

You may feel that you are not clinging to the past but reaching for something. But Krishnamurti said, “if I reach for something, it is still the past, from memory. How is this past to be dissolved? Because otherwise I am still living in the field of time that is man-made.”

Memories do exist, yet remain as something akin to dead images in a file, which come alive once our attention is placed on them. William Blake referred to these images as being contained in “the Halls of Los”, in his famous poem, “Jerusalem”. Soul, of Itself, lives in the present moment. The decisions we make today solidify into tomorrow’s conditions. Blake also wrote, “What was once imagined is now real”. Where we put our attention is where we go.

I take it to be saying, if there is ANY STORY WHATSOEVER, You will never touch spirit. You are confined to live in the man-made world of time.

Ok, keeping in mind that in spiritual matters, there is always the issue of semantics, and as Nico noted, we are all in the position of trying to articulate that, which to some degree, is not able to be articulated, especially as we all have different reference points, are at different points in our unfoldment, have differing abilities to express ourselves, and so on, but here I would have to disagree. Once again, Soul, of Itself, lives in the present moment, and in a realm known as the Soul Plane. However, human beings, encumbered as we are with the psychic bodies, ie; the physical, astral, causal, mental and etheric (the causal, mental and etheric are very different realms, but can essentially be described as divisions or regions of the Mental Plane). Therefore, while Soul is in “the lower worlds”, ie; the psychic or dual realms, It must wear the coverings known as the physical, astral, causal, mental and etheric bodies, for the reason that without them, Soul has no way to express Itself, ie; It is disembodied. It may be able to express Itself on the Soul Plane and beyond, but not on the mental plane, for example. To do so, It needs a mental body, if you get my drift.

The point being, that Soul – should It maintain Its connection to Divine Spirit, is able to maintain Its state of consciousness at the spiritual level, ie; the Soul Plane. As I mentioned in my first post, this is easiest done by singing the word, HU, or some other charged word, or spiritual practice on a regular basis. Exercising the spiritual body brings awareness and understanding of the subtle worlds and our experiences there. Truly, a life without spiritual experiences, is a limited life at best.

You are confined to live in the man-made world of time.

If Soul is here, it is because It either has more to give, or further lessons to learn. There’s a saying that when Soul finally attains God-Realisation and earns Its place in the pure spiritual worlds, Its great love for others often compells It to return to the lower worlds in order to assist others on their journey back home to God.

Finally, although the physical (and the other psychic bodies are bound by the laws of their respective planes), Soul of Itself need not be so. Indeed, It is Soul’s destiny to be free, not to be the effect of the matter, energy, space, and time worlds. The objective therefore is, “to walk the earth, but to keep one’s heart in heaven”.

And just why should we depart from the world of time? Is it deficient?

The worlds of matter, energy, space and time, are known as God’s finished creation. The purpose of these worlds is to provide a theatre where Soul gains experience, until It is in a position to take command of Its destiny. Soul’s aim is to become more God-like, and this is what the theatre of life provides; experiences so that Soul is able to become predominantly cause, and less so, effect. It can be effect, but should be aware that It is being the effect of something. Most do not know that they are being the effect of one thing or another. We can see this when people become overly emotional about something. By and large, Soul has been given free will and is free to decide whether It wants to advance to a higher, lighter realm of existence or remain in this world. However, the important thing is to make that decision, and not be compelled by your karma to remain in this world.

In Spirit, D.

Hello Dimitar, and thanks for such a complete explanation of my few queries. I am new here, so I don’t know the people or what they usually post. So this helps a lot.

BUT I STILL LACK UNDERSTANDING.

A verbal model is often a map of how we perceive the material world. A verbal model can also be constructed about the “unseen world”. (Nico Cost used that “unseen” term as a definition of the spiritual realm.) Now you explain how divine love is impersonal and detached. The reason is that assures soul’s maximum freedom.

I like to judge by results on the ground and not by the assertions made through words. If divine love is detached, that means it “winks” at atrocities, or at least it has no reaction. Sort of like Western Populations, that care not that their representative government sends $400 billion in bombs to kill a million Slavic men. Same is true in Gaza on a smaller scale, but focused on the innocents. Why call it divine love? What does Love have to do with it? Just call it Divine Compulsion.

You mention that every soul is unique and has its unique approach to God. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of approaches to God, are to discount it, and ignore any approach completely.

If the spirit world is before language, what do semantics have to do with it?  “A mind that can be still has an opportunity to observe that which cannot be observed when the mind is occupied”, (with thoughts and words).

It is good to know, as you said, human beings are encumbered as we are with the psychic bodies, ie; the physical, astral, causal, mental and etheric (the causal, mental and etheric are very different realms, but can essentially be described as divisions or regions of the Mental Plane). So as I understand it, these realms are all mind-stuff, (or mind-fluff). Therefore, as simply stated above, there is no opportunity to observe spirit when the mind is occupied.

You have said the soul-plane is only in the present, so there is no memory there, (no sense of a past). Isn’t learning a construct connecting the past to present discoveries? So how could soul learn any lessons in the timeless present?

In the theater of the material world, soul gains experience. That experience must be laced with the verbal model of reality. So why not devote full attention to that verbal virtual world. That is my choice, and I say it has not proved a dead-end. I feel predominantly more toward cause, and less so, effect. I also appreciate my given free will, and freedom to decide to remain in this world. I’ll be in another realm soon enough. Death, and I’ll deal with it then.

That’s just how I choose to see it. I’ll write a post soon to go deeper into it.

Thanks

.

You mention that every soul is unique and has its unique approach to God. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of approaches to God, are to discount it, and ignore any approach completely.

It matters not whether Soul “discounts” God, is a “non-believer” or atheist, because It is still subject to the impersonal laws of life. It still must find some purpose and meaning in order to get of bed every day. If the individual devotes himself to something beyond his own desires and passions, then his life will not have been wasted. Whether Soul “discounts God” or not, does not mean that the unseen world – the spiritual reality beyond the physical senses does not exist.

Like the man who has never ventured beyond his village, he will never know what lies beyond the rise that disappears toward the horizon and must rely on hearsay. His curiosity will eventually get the better of him, and one day he will leave his familiar and safe world, to find out for himself.

You have said the soul-plane is only in the present, so there is no memory there, (no sense of a past). Isn’t learning a construct connecting the past to present discoveries? So how could soul learn any lessons in the timeless present?

Soul being composed of the same stuff as Divine Spirit is characterised by Its ability to see, know and be. The challenging part is that the mind often questions Soul’s understandings / intuitions, and so casts doubt on Soul’s perceptions. I did not say that “Soul has no sense of a past”. Of course Soul relies on past lessons and experiences in order to make properly informed choices in the present. That’s different to living in the past, or being the effect of it.

Before we can advance to an understanding of our relationship with Divine Spirit, and finding God’s love, it’s necessary to look at cause and effect, aka the Law of Karma. Until we have a rule for ourselves of what is right and what is wrong, we’re going to have a lot of unnecessary problems no matter what path we take through life.  What makes it so hard to determine right and wrong is that they are only an imperfect mirror image of the Law of Karma. Additionally, there are a number of different types of karma that affect us, and so our understanding of this rigid spiritual law, does not always fit logically with whatever explanations the mind may come up with re: events that befall us. Suffice to say, there are at least three types of karma we need to consider; fate, reserve and daily karma. Our present lifetime is often encumbered with the effects of our most recent incarnations.

We fall back on our creativity to deal with life’s challenges, and we do the best we can with whatever options and resources are available to us. We take the gifts and roll with the punches that come our way. Ideally, we should aim to get off the merry-go-round of karma (what the Buddhists call the Wheel of the Eighty-Four), and so establish as much control over our lives as possible. We learn through the hard knocks of life that there is a higher law. This higher law is the Law of Love. It essentially states that we must be willing to give whatever love is within our means, or charity, to God’s creatures, without thought of any return for our efforts. It also means allowing others their psychic space, or state of consciousness (if it is not directly affecting our state of consciousness), and finally, understanding that our freedom ends where the next person’s begins.

Our spiritual survival then begins to depend largely on our ability and / or willingness to listen to the guidance that is available to us via the inner channels. As we know, fate governs the conditions at a person’s birth; free will allows a choice as to how we move within and beyond them. In order to make the best of the choices that we face, we need to consider our spiritual toolkit, and the best resource available to us is the inner voice, should we care to take notice of its still, small whisperings. There is a spiritual saying along the lines of ‘one is better able to be of service to God, or life, by listening, than by speaking”.

Hence the need to establish a code to live by, and the need to stick to it. Without this personal code, we are like a leaf  blown about in all directions by the winds of life. Once we gain a measure of control over our actions and reactions, we begin to see the importance of the Law of Love in our lives. Indeed, it was and is the Law of Love that created, maintains and sustains all of life in all of God’s universes. The Law of Love therefore, is the golden coin we need to present at every doorway to a higher state of consciousness.

Hello Dimitar, and I truly thank you for all these details.  I am attempting to approach these subjects with the BEGGINER’S MIND.  So for now, I am adopting no codes.  What would seem obvious to any and every unschooled individual, is my search?

God is a value system, and imparts those values to people who are open.

Values are the seeds of thought and thoughts are the seed of action.

So then, that God does not interfere in the world (directly), God’s values would be reflected in the actions of all those that have accepted them.  But I don’t see it.

Were is the “Golden Age” of Christians, or any other organized thought system with a god in it?  Maybe I missed it, but I am still looking for evidence on the ground.

If God is only about reaping souls after death, aren’t there other more important things to concern with?  (Like stopping the wholesale killing Slavic people?)

So then, that God does not interfere in the world (directly), God’s values would be reflected in the actions of all those that have accepted them. But I don’t see it.

With due respect, your questions appear to be more or less the same questions you raised initially, and I doubt it will make any difference if I continue to respond to them as I have been doing.

The best response to the above would be;

man is a mirror,
but can only reflect as much truth
as Soul can hold

May I respectfully offer the flowing; your handle, “Unknown Destination” suggests to me that you need to define a destination for yourself. In other words, if you do not know where you are heading, how can you recognise the roadsigns or markers along the way? If you define a destination for yourself, then you will be in a better situation to understand what I have been attempting to communicate.

Kind Regards,

D:)

A few comments. I don’t regularly participate here but I’ve also been through the mill. I like Nico’s simple physically based exercises, as a method to get the yammering in the head silent, and that makes a space for a spark of light to perhaps enter.

All we can do, is to find the silent spaces. The rest universe will provide, but one must find those silent spaces and almost convince universe that you are serious.

My best maxim: Truth is a pathless land. You will not know who you will meet up with, you will not know where you are going to, all you can know, is that you have the physical part of yourself silenced, and in this way made space for a larger universe thoughtform to enter — or not. If that happens, sit with it, take 3 days to consider it and always remember, it is for you, not for your neighbor.

Take the people who go and drink a bunch of ayahuasca, to accomplish this and all they get is a bunch of entities that start talking to them. (And I will not take any drug or any other substance to create a connection with consciousness).

We are after, we seek for, is consciousness. It is a lifelong quest. We look for and yearn for connection. Part of us wants that, we want the connection with the .. higher? We explain it as a ‘higher’ but it just may be the part that we don’t see and don’t experience and perhaps there is nothing ‘higher’ about it. It may just be ‘bigger’. That will teach anything we need to know. The persistent seeking of ‘what is the soul’, is it my heart or my mind that gives me this input is so much hard work. Put the hard work into seeking consciousness and all you need for that is some simple techniques to silence the noise as a start.

Let me tell a story. I’ve done a lot of coursework in seeking consciousness. I am a trained remote viewer for example and if the protocol is correct, I’m scary good. But there are hard and fast rules and messing with those can get one into psychological trouble. So, follow the rules because the consciousness world has rules as well. I’ve done hard courses in healing – remote healing and also hands-on esoteric healing. I’ve also done some serious studies with a pendulum – the stuff that you do with charts and follow it over years and get feedback and work with others and its just hard and persistent work. To today, if I question the quality of some food, I do a small check with fingers as with a pendulum. We don’t get sick of food. But it is very easy to start. So I wanted to teach my sister. And lo and behold, that pendulum did not want to move (she is a little uptight). I did not know what to do and one day just gently put my hand on hers – and lo and behold, that pendulum did just what I expected it to do, literally jumping. So, this is not because I am smart or anything like that, because consciousness studies do not need human smart. This is because I have many years into it.

To find consciousness, one starts with simple physical exercises and you follow the rules. Your body as a whole is a vibrating pendulum and machine of acceptance of what is around you invisibly. The knowledge is in the consciousness field. Kids know this.

Do these simple and uncomplicated exercises with beginnings of meditation and things will change. Keep on with it, don’t play games – be serious – have fun. I grew up in church where there was a great emphasis on esoteric type experience. Thank heavens I had a very wise grandmother. Even as a young person I learned very quickly if some meddling biddy came up to me saying “I have a message for you from God” I simply turned rude, and told that person thanks, but no thanks. God knows where I am and will hand over any messages personally.

Consciousness knows where you are. Truth is a pathless land. Find the quiet spaces and there will be light. Start with the physical body, because that indeed is all we have in this realm. There are yogis that don’t eat .. they literally live on a honey that they produce in the throat via physical yoga movements. Next time you go for a walk, feel it – feel what it feels like, just feel it and don’t overthink it. Start building the discipline – feeling what it feels like will initially substitute for all kinds of thoughts and bring you into a bit of quiet. That is what it feels like to let thoughts just go. You will soon know what you are about.

Or if this is too simple go and sit Sazen a bit – this is how important the physical body is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDxR8c5e7E

Hi Dimi. You know, pathlessness .. that means an opening of oneself to the universal path setting out deliberately with no definitions or rules. It is not irresponsibility – an irresponsible person probably will cause chaos, it is not lovelessness or lovingness, it is just an openness to the truth of the experience of the path .. being human and learning human things? Finding that touchpoint between what I am and what a universal consciousness is.

So, we look at it a little differently. It is also not an escape, it is an acknowledgment of saying for example, I don’t know if I know, what love is. I don’t know if I know what God is .. I don’t know if I know what consciousness is .. I don’t know if my concept of soul is truthful. I may think I know those things but perhaps I don’t and perhaps being open like this, I can learn them deeper or fuller.

It is simply a moment by moment point of departure without letting old lessons be in the way.

I like truth being a pathless land – and knowing at least that bit, so that I don’t fill the heartspace (and I use that for lack of a better word) with things that I think I know.

Nico, it’s absolutely fine if you wish to define truth as “a pathless land”. However, existence implies or moves along certain paramenters or pathways, for example in the temporal world, all lifeforms exhibit growth cycles, beginning with birth, an apex or peak of attainment, then decline and eventual death. In spiritual terms, consciousness either moves forward, or backward, it never quite stands still due to the constant impressions brought about by experience after experience after experience. Even on a daily or micro level, Soul is in a continual state of subtle movement or growth.  The addition of constant impressions has the result of transforming consciousness from an initially ignorant to eventually, an enlightened state.

If what you mean by a “pathless land”, is an as yet undefined path, (ie; by someone else’s terms, and yet to be defined by one’s self), then yes, I agree. Every individual is a trailblazer, and that’s how it should be. But truth, ultimately, is not “a pathless land”. There are inescapable laws of life that one cannot hope to ignore, somehow circumvent or bypass. Like the laws that define existence in Nature’s kingdom, so are there higher laws, that define life in the invisible (to human eyes) or spiritual realm. These laws of life we eventaully grasp and live by and so employ on our journey or pathway through life.

The very concept of truth is personal, ie; defined by the individual. For some it may be philosophical, for others based on their survival needs, for mystics, poets and the like, it may be defined as that which inspires avenues to creativity or understanding, and so on down the line. There is no standing still in life, one either moves forward, or backward, and this movement therefore implies a path, or journey. To somewhere, some thing or even no thing.

amarynth; “I like truth being a pathless land…” I understand and accept as such. But what then is right and wrong? Why do we feel so strongly about what we perceive to be right and what is wrong? If it was a pathless land why should we care about what the next person does, or indeed, live our lives by some sort of ethic or moral code?  Why do we condemn the actions of some and condone the actions of others?  And this right or wrong is an all important component insofar as determining growth, understanding or movement toward meaning, God or however the individual may define their goal or purpose in life.

B/c without some concept of where one is going, there can be no pathless path. Even a “pathless path” is a path, lol.  Anyway, I think you know me well enough to know I’m not trying to “impose my views” over your own. Nor am I “trying to be difficult”, I genuinely got thinking about your statement, and went from there.

Nico and amarynth, it was not my intention to negate either of you and I apologise if you feel that I have. As I realised in responding to Unknown Destination, no matter how simple I believe my responses to be, someone else is not always going to grasp where one is coming from and will interpret another’s words according to their state of consciousness, naturally, but in entirely unexpected ways. The consistent problem in discussing spiritual issues is that everyone’s understanding and interpretation of their experiences and the language used to describe them differs and so a common understanding is difficult to reach. Responding further breeds more questions, which like the proverbial rungs on a ladder, lead to more rungs and the mind will never be satisfied no matter what you set before it. As such, only he who forms the questions can find the answers to satisfy them. Thank you for opening the thread, Nico, and the opportunity to share my views, and best wishes to both of you in your respective journeys toward spiritual healing, D:)

Oh wow .. don’t wait on me.  I am truly very busy with earthly stuff.  Today, this day there were many threads to follow.  In that perspective I have to be attentive to those that use this site.

But, the world, the real world is here.  It is in our dialogue.  It is in the learning from one another.

So I don’t have much to say as I am tired .. like old toast – shriveling up and smelling not to good.

But I did leave something for here, for the dialogue.  If this is not simple, then I do not know what is simple.  A path you enter without rules, regulations, without defining how and what.  If Nico’s simple and starter meditations do not work for you, there are other ways.  Has anyone done any Tai Chi?  This is so marvellous – as it is more active than a mediation but does the same thing – get the mind out of the way for starters and then connection mind and consciousness.  That is freedom.  We are not free.  We are not as humans free beings as we should be but we are entangled.

So, I like food and in cooking, making, baking I find the pure space.  But Tai Chi?  It is there as well and physically just so excellent.  I am so sure of the physical, the body individually, being that piece that we have that teaches us.  That is what emerges in meditation, and in Tai Chi.  And for me, as my name indicates, is that offering – the ingredients around us make us.  And that is the joy.

With 50 odd open tags on my browser, I did save this one:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202411/1323468.shtml

Hello Amarynth.  I really like all the things that you say here, but I don’t feel to add to this long thread.  Soon I will post something that addresses the pathless path.  I hope to see you there.

I heard you say that you keep certain tabs open.  Me too, is that the only way to know if someone replies to a comment?  I get emails on my main post, but none on comments.  Is there a way to get emails on comment replies?  Thanks

What is it that defines a person who is able to withstand the invisible influences that drive man to undesirable effects? Man loses control of his state of consciousness when his imagination is controlling him and not the other way around. Imagination, or “images-in-action” is the only truly spiritual gift we can lay claim to, in so much as it is a transformative tool that is limitless in its potential.

Where man’s spiritual survival is concerned, there are two vital factors that spell either success or failure; the control of one’s imagination and control of our feelings / emotions. Control of our emotions is important because this world is closest to and vulnerable to the lower astral world that is host to many malignant entities or beings that exert destructive effects on human beings.

I recently experienced a debilitating health condition that was a result of extreme stress. I followed a course of alternative healing outlawed by allopathic medicine. At its most extreme point, I experienced a number of healings on the inner planes that involved places and beings of a higher order. Confronted with fear and despair I was yet able to maintain my composure even though I could find no logical explanation for my condition and very little help outwardly.  After a six month period I finally found a doctor who explained that my condition was 100% the result of the stress I was under. This had the edifying effect of lifting a huge weight from my shoulders, and the course he prescribed soon cleared up my condition. My inner experiences helped me withstand the temptation to surrender to fear and “give up”, remembering and reliving them in my darkest days. I learnt that “God helps he who helps himself”, and that healing is first and foremost our own responsibility.

Blake said, “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s; I will not reason and compare, my business is to create.” What Blake is saying is that Soul is a unique spiritual being and must find or create Its own system or path back home to God. God created Soul and no two Souls are alike. The choice is to follow our own way or someone else’s way. Following one’s own way presupposes an unshakable faith or conviction that God or the Universe is working in our favour. We then learn that maintaining harmony with this universal benevolence entails becoming that same universal benevolence which we must then give unfailingly to all of life. The personal self may not necessarily be in agreement with what certain Souls are doing, but we need to understand that they are simply Souls in the throes of karma and instead of bemoaning their actions we can instead, create our own “counteractions”. And this is all achieved through the imagination and firm control over our emotions.

every man
is a part of and contributes
to the state of the world
on a daily basis