Spirituality

[gonegirl1]

Does anyone feel like if they could practice spirituality more or make the effort to "enlighten" themselves they could cope with this life a little more?

 

[Foreverix]

Might be better suited for the recovery section.

 

[gonegirl1]

Might be better suited for the recovery section.

Yes ur right

 

[Darkover]

Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature. in another words more delusional bullshit

 

[gonegirl1]

Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature. in another words more delusional bullshit

I understand where you come from to say this, been there myself. I'm not a spiritual person but I just feel (or want to feel) that there is some higher meaning to this life. At least that I'm not going to live and die in vain.

I saw a post from someone here that says something about wanting to die to go "home" like their soul doesn't belong to this planet and just coming from very far away somewhere in the universe and I feel this sometimes.

 

[Praestat_Mori]

I saw a post from someone here that says something about wanting to die to go "home" like their soul doesn't belong to this planet and just coming from very far away somewhere in the universe and I feel this sometimes.

This is an interesting thought. Well, we don't know why dead matter (atoms) in certain combinations of molecules have consciousness (or minimum they can make decisions up to a certain level (animals)). What if consciousness is a necessity in the universe and we have it bc of a yet undiscovered "field" or dimension of the universe? We might never even discover it. Still more than 80% of what the universe is as a whole is still unknown.

 

[gonegirl1]

This is an interesting thought. Well, we don't know why dead matter (atoms) in certain combinations of molecules have consciousness (or minimum they can make decisions up to a certain level (animals)). What if consciousness is a necessity in the universe and we have it bc of a yet undiscovered "field" or dimension of the universe? We might never even discover it. Still more than 80% of what the universe is as a whole is still unknown.

Yes that's exactly what i mean

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

No, it actually made me worse.
I became a Buddhist for a couple of years and practiced anapanasati meditation.
I ended up having some weird kundalini experience.
I ended up with depersonalisation disorder.
I don't believe in God, and no longer bother with anything spiritual anymore.

 

[gonegirl1]

No, it actually made me worse.
I became a Buddhist for a couple of years and practiced anapanasati meditation.
I ended up having some weird kundalini experience.
I ended up with depersonalisation disorder.
I don't believe in God, and no longer bother with anything spiritual anymore.

Im not very informed on that but am aware that practicing spirituality without proper guidance can have bad results.
Do you feel like if your experience didn't go bad you would have another view towards this?

 

[tiger b]

I don't know...it depends on the person and what way you go with your 'Spirituality', I think...

There was a quote I barely remember:

Before enlightenment,
Light fire
Chop wood
After enlightenment,
Light fire
Chop wood.

In other words, the practicalities of life don't change.

Simple meditation is probably a reasonable place to start, so you can see what's best for you. Not the 'post your brain to another dimension' level of meditation! Hahaha you never quite get it back in the same shape that you sent it.

...Or just losing yourself in music you like - who's to say that's not spiritual!

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

Im not very informed on that but am aware that practicing spirituality without proper guidance can have bad results.
Do you feel like if your experience didn't go bad you would have another view towards this?

Yes, meditation helped me a lot, but I got to a level where I needed an enlightened teacher. Yet there are very few genuine ones in the world today, mainly in Tibet and India.

 

[tiger b]

Yes, meditation helped me a lot, but I got to a level where I needed an enlightened teacher. Yet there are very few genuine ones in the world today, mainly in Tibet and India.

Forgive my ignorance of it - I came to meditation through a long study of hypnosis - but did you feel you had to advance a level or was it not possible to stay at a moderate level that didn't give you that negative experience you previously mentioned?

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

Forgive my ignorance of it - I came to meditation through a long study of hypnosis - but did you feel you had to advance a level or was it not possible to stay at a moderate level that didn't give you that negative experience you previously mentioned?

It was a sudden and very powerful surge of energy called kundalini that began coursing through my body. It is indescribably powerful.
Way beyond anything you can imagine.
Once this kind of thing happens you need someone who really knows how to help you guide the energy through your bodies energy centres.
It is extremely inadvisable to attempt to do it on your own, and that's why I had to stop, because people have become psychotic, and ended up in psych wards because they have seen into other dimensions in a very negative way.

 

[gonegirl1]

It was a sudden and very powerful surge of energy called kundalini that began coursing through my body. It is indescribably powerful.
Way beyond anything you can imagine.
Once this kind of thing happens you need someone who really knows how to help you guide the energy through your bodies energy centres.
It is extremely inadvisable to attempt to do it on your own, and that's why I had to stop, because people have become psychotic, and ended up in psych wards because they have seen into other dimensions in a very negative way.

Wow that's so scary. It reminds me of cases of ppl that had bad experiences with lsd and were never able to be the same again

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

Wow that's so scary. It reminds me of cases of ppl that had bad experiences with lsd and were never able to be the same again

It's a similar experience. Both intense meditation and psychedelic drugs open the mind to certain phenomena, such as transcending space and time and experiencing ego death.

 

[tiger b]

It was a sudden and very powerful surge of energy called kundalini that began coursing through my body. It is indescribably powerful.
Way beyond anything you can imagine.
Once this kind of thing happens you need someone who really knows how to help you guide the energy through your bodies energy centres.
It is extremely inadvisable to attempt to do it on your own, and that's why I had to stop, because people have become psychotic, and ended up in psych wards because they have seen into other dimensions in a very negative way.

...ouch.

It's a similar experience. Both intense meditation and psychedelic drugs open the mind to certain phenomena, such as transcending space and time and experiencing ego death.

But the ego will do anything to survive, even creating a psychotic episode (or maybe even a whole world hehe)!so is true ego death possible in your opinion?

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

...ouch.

But the ego will do anything to survive, even creating a psychotic episode (or maybe even a whole world hehe)!so is true ego death possible in your opinion?

No, I don't think so. It's as you say, we need the ego, or else we will just be a blank page. I think people can confuse an ego death episode with depersonalisation and derealisation disorder episodes.

 

[deadbody]

I periodically pray the Rosary, it helps me take my mind off things and feel better for a moment. However, I do not expect any reward for this after death, I perceive it as a form of meditation that is convenient for me.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I think it could be nice to believe some entity would give you strength when you needed it most but- what if they don't? I don't know. I actually find it more distressing to imagine there could be an entity overseeing and controlling all of this- because I don't see how they could be good.

 

[cosifantutti]

No, it actually made me worse.
I became a Buddhist for a couple of years and practiced anapanasati meditation.
I ended up having some weird kundalini experience.
I ended up with depersonalisation disorder.
I don't believe in God, and no longer bother with anything spiritual anymore.

I think meditation can definitely make you worse. I remember a friend getting involved in some Buddhist type of meditation and he felt like he was going out of his mind.

I have worked towards a spiritual relationship with God as a Catholic. In recent months I have started to recognise that this doesn't help me at all and I'm probably better without God.

 

[WAITING TO DIE]

I think it could be nice to believe some entity would give you strength when you needed it most but- what if they don't? I don't know. I actually find it more distressing to imagine there could be an entity overseeing and controlling all of this- because I don't see how they could be good.

Exactly. This world is filled with far too much suffering and prayers are never answered.
What about things such as children being abused by paedophiles ?
How could a so - called all loving, all seeing benevolent god fail to intervene when horrors like this are happening ?

 

[Hotsackage]

If there is a spirituality, it's about learning to relate your thoughts and not get caught in them and dealing with life's challenges. You evolve as you do this, through different lifetimes. It's obviously all speculation, but as I've studied all religions and spiritual traditions, it's only one that makes sense, given the nature of reality

 

[Christo]

Spirituality has helped me to cope with the suffering but it also has made me realize what life really is and how this whole life cycle works, and my conclusion was that for me it's not worth living life in the long term.
Without learning about spirituality and practicing it I don't think I would've gotten so far in life to make this decision.

 

[gonegirl1]

I think it could be nice to believe some entity would give you strength when you needed it most but- what if they don't? I don't know. I actually find it more distressing to imagine there could be an entity overseeing and controlling all of this- because I don't see how they could be good.

I feel you

Exactly. This world is filled with far too much suffering and prayers are never answered.
What about things such as children being abused by paedophiles ?
How could a so - called all loving, all seeing benevolent god fail to intervene when horrors like this are happening ?

Christians would justify that as "karma" or some punishment they are receiving for having sinned