Near-death experiences

[Wind]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZfaPCwjguk

[Wind]

That's a wonderful channel. I have to say that video I posted was one of the better NDE testimonies I've ever heard, at least in recent memory. She as a soul chose to reincarnate into a life in which she would grow up in Catholic home which would lead into her atheism. Before birth she chose the NDE experience, I suppose it's often if not always a choice before birth. Sadly too many atheists become too smugly arrogant and stuck in their worldviews, but like recently I've heard stories here too of logical atheists becoming religious.

Some people can be very logical in their thinking, but if they can't think outside the box then they might be stuck in their bs, belief systems and reality tunnels. Others logic will lead to the path that they realize that all of this has been created and that requires the existence of Creator. Hindus long ago realized that natural evolution and the big bang go very well with their spiritual understanding too.

What stood out to me was that when she said that there are multiple possible paths for us to choose, yet all roads lead back to Rome.

[Emil El Zapato]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZfaPCwjguk

It occurred to me that the 'learning' experience is pointless unless birth/death/rebirth is a continuing cycle. I know the concept of 'Nirvana' but is that the end? Or do Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Brahman, and Moses compete for 'supercoolness' to transcend to true Godlike levels, perhaps with their own Universes, dimensions/dimensionless (which might be counterintuitive, but is merely a thought)? The Hindu Trinity: Brahma - the Creator, Vishnu- the Preserver, and Shiva - the Destroyer. Vishnu has always been my favorite.


Autopilot is the most degrading way to live one's life.

[Wind]

It occurred to me that the 'learning' experience is pointless unless birth/death/rebirth is a continuing cycle. I know the concept of 'Nirvana' but is that the end? Or do Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Brahman, and Moses compete for 'supercoolness' to transcend to true Godlike levels, perhaps with their own Universes, dimensions/dimensionless (which might be counterintuitive, but is merely a thought)? The Hindu Trinity: Brahma - the Creator, Vishnu- the Preserver, and Shiva - the Destroyer. Vishnu has always been my favorite.

Think about everything in terms of consciousness as it is the force behind everything. So in essence everything is alive, but the difference between of levels of consciousness and awareness can vary massively. A rock isn't dead matter, but it is so much different than a human being. Everything descends from Spirit to the material world and at first there is the mineral, bacterial, water and elemental levels of being. Then after that starts to grow plants, eventually animals come, then hominids and here we are, homo sapiens. We as human are beings that are aware of being aware, that is a big leap in consciousness from animals to humans. Let alone from plants to humans.

Consciousness spirals upwards and upwards always to infinity, to higher and higher levels. To angelic, to divine and God itself.
Enlightenment or attaining Buddha & Christhood is just said to be the highest level here, but in the universe it's just one step.

Yeshua Ben-Joseph was destined to become Jesus Christ just like Prince Gautama had his path. They realized their true nature, but of course that was the culmination of many lifetimes. Remember that under the Bodhi tree Buddha remembered all of his past lives and conquered his lower self. Yeshua had the same kind of tests and initations which he first had to to through, but you could say that they were destined for it and showed us all the path to potential freedom if we desire it. We are consciousness, that's the whole point.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEdySF5Z4xo

Autopilot is the most degrading way to live one's life.

[Emil El Zapato]

yes, that makes sense as truth.

A Mystical Map of Existence & Consciousness:

 Satguru sivaya subramuniyaswami’s framework of seven dimensions of the mind divides consciousness into seven categories that range from gross to extremely subtle. The first two describe physical existence—the inside and outside of things. The third dimension is mankind’s normal level of consciousness, consisting of thoughts and emotions about our own and others’ lives. The fourth through the seventh dimensions can be described as the inner, mystical or higher realms of consciousness. They are within everyone but require training and practice to be accessed with continuity. This unique framework is useful in providing guidance in our efforts to access inner states of consciousness. This requires knowing which dimension of the mind the inner state is in. Like following a mariner’s map, once we pinpoint a superconscious experience we are able to return to it again and again, just as sailors can reach a shore on a chart. Gurudeva gives a helpful key to experiencing the states of consciousness in the fourth through seventh dimensions by relating them to the chakras. Specifically, he states that, while in meditation, to experience states of inner consciousness within the fourth dimension, look at the world from the chest area (anahata chakra); for the fifth dimension, look out from the throat area (vishuddha chakra); for the sixth dimension, look out from between the eyes (ajna chakra); for the seventh dimension, look at the inner world through the top of the head (sahasrara chakra).
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

[Emil El Zapato]

Think about everything in terms of consciousness as it is the force behind everything. So in essence everything is alive, but the difference between of levels of consciousness and awareness can vary massively. A rock isn't dead matter, but it is so much different than a human being. Everything descends from Spirit to the material world and at first there is the mineral, bacterial, water and elemental levels of being. Then after that starts to grow plants, eventually animals come, then hominids and here we are, homo sapiens. We as human are beings that are aware of being aware, that is a big leap in consciousness from animals to humans. Let alone from plants to humans.

Consciousness spirals upwards and upwards always to infinity, to higher and higher levels. To angelic, to divine and God itself.
Enlightenment or attaining Buddha & Christhood is just said to be the highest level here, but in the universe it's just one step.

Yeshua Ben-Joseph was destined to become Jesus Christ just like Prince Gautama had his path. They realized their true nature, but of course that was the culmination of many lifetimes. Remember that under the Bodhi tree Buddha remembered all of his past lives and conquered his lower self. Yeshua had the same kind of tests and initations which he first had to to through, but you could say that they were destined for it and showed us all the path to potential freedom if we desire it. We are consciousness, that's the whole point.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEdySF5Z4xo

I noticed something interesting about this guy... When conversing with the lady, he never gives her a point in the sense of assent or to put it in the colloquial, "yes, that's right" to at least encourage her to listen. Is that ego speaking or the act of a learned teacher not wishing to clutter the mind of the learner/empty vessel?

Not meaning this as a critique, but more of an observation, how do these guys come by the 'ambience' that they are soft and wise? Is that the infinite consciousness imbuing them with the 'essence' or is it an affectation? Or is it similar to actors acquiring the mannerisms and style of emoting from their acting coaches?

[Wind]

I noticed something interesting about this guy... When conversing with the lady, he never gives her a point in the sense of assent or to put it in the colloquial, "yes, that's right" to at least encourage her to listen. Is that ego speaking or the act of a learned teacher not wishing to clutter the mind of the learner/empty vessel?

I think it's the latter. Not that I think Rupert would have dropped his ego though, I think he just has it more subdued.
Rupert claims that he doesn't think about his answers, that they would just flow to him. I am not sure what to make of that.

Not meaning this as a critique, but more of an observation, how do these guys come by the 'ambience' that they are soft and wise? Is that the infinite consciousness imbuing them with the 'essence' or is it an affectation?

Well, I do think some of them actually are wise like Rupert. I don't know if it's your impression that he is somehow phony, or are you more bothered that he has assumed the position of a teacher? I don't really think there would be any pretense on his part, although he has changed his views and teachings over the years and has simplified them. Some of them I might not agree with. I don't know if he would have had some mystical experiences, but I assume he might have. I think in some ways he cuts corners perhaps a bit too much and oversimplifies things, but also I suppose it can make the teachings easier to digest. Some of his books are quite good. As a sidenote in his presentantions he used to have flowers next to him, then I suppose someone in the team thought to get rid of them so now he just has water. I don't know if people were annoyed by them or thought that it was pretentious.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a78jhhXtXgI

[Emil El Zapato]

I think it's the latter. Not that I think Rupert would have dropped his ego though, I think he just has it more subdued.
Rupert claims that he doesn't think about his answers, that they would just flow to him. I am not sure what to make of that.



Well, I do think some of them actually are wise like Rupert. I don't know if it's your impression that he is somehow phony, or are you more bothered that he has assumed the position of a teacher? I don't really think there would be any pretense on his part, although he has changed his views and teachings over the years and has simplified them. Some of them I might not agree with. I don't know if he would have had some mystical experiences, but I assume he might have. I think in some ways he cuts corners perhaps a bit too much and oversimplifies things, but also I suppose it can make the teachings easier to digest. Some of his books are quite good. As a sidenote in his presentantions he used to have flowers next to him, then I suppose someone in the team thought to get rid of them so now he just has water. I don't know if people were annoyed by them or thought that it was pretentious.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a78jhhXtXgI

The flow is completely understandable to me...the 'flow' is the only way to think about 'flow'.

Interesting about the flowers...It doesn't bother me, maybe it does but it is my own check and balance before I 'fall' for something. Wisdom doesn't elevate spirit until the possessor becomes a spirit ...

[Wind]

The Hindu Trinity: Brahma - the Creator, Vishnu- the Preserver, and Shiva - the Destroyer. Vishnu has always been my favorite.

Last year I bought a small statue of dancing Shiva, it's next to me like a bigger statue of Ganesh, I do have smaller ones of Ganesh too. I don't really worship deities like that, at least not often, but I do like what they symbolize like Ganesh is the remover of obstacles and I do ask for that, help and guidance too. I do have statues of monkey god Hanuman and Buddha too. The value for me in them is mostly aesthetic and visual, but I do think there is some energy to them. It's interesting that not only Christianity, but Hinduism has trinity too.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfkOaQhjdD4


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVBPZ4ObQ8Q

[Fred Steeves]

Last year I bought a small statue of dancing Shiva, it's next to me like a bigger statue of Ganesh, I do have smaller ones of Ganesh too. I don't really worship deities like that, at least not often, but I do like what they symbolize like Ganesh is the remover of obstacles and I do ask for that, help and guidance too. I do have statues of monkey god Hanuman and Buddha too. The value for me in them is mostly aesthetic and visual, but I do think there is some energy to them. It's interesting that not only Christianity, but Hinduism has trinity too.

Yes, from my experience worship is never the point, but there is a certain energetic field available for a relationship. Of course everything is energy, and we can either enter into a (for lack of a better term) "relationship" with said energy that winds up being useful, or non useful.

On us to properly discern which is which eh?

[Wind]

Yes, from my experience worship is never the point, but there is a certain energetic field available for a relationship. Of course everything is energy, and we can either enter into a (for lack of a better term) "relationship" with said energy that winds up being useful, or non useful.

What I find attractive in the likes of Hinduism or even more Sufism, is that it's more about relation(ship) with the Divine. You realize that energy is within you, but it is also within everything else and it's like a dance between that energy and you are part of it. Of course everyone has their own relationship with the divine or not and give it different names and attributes, but in essence it's all the same One.

On us to properly discern which is which eh?

Yes and that is the faculty of intuition and the voice of the soul.

Just like with anything, learning to listen to that requires honing.

[Emil El Zapato]

The flow is completely understandable to me...the 'flow' is the only way to think about 'flow'.

Interesting about the flowers...It doesn't bother me, maybe it does but it is my own check and balance before I 'fall' for something. Wisdom doesn't elevate spirit until the possessor becomes a spirit ...

Interesting snippet about Spira:

A turning point in the mid-1990s led Rupert to the American teacher Robert Adams, who died two days after Rupert arrived in the US. However, on this visit he was told about another teacher, Francis Lucille, whom he met several months later. The first words he ever heard Francis say were, ‘Meditation is a universal “Yes” to everything’. Although it was the kind of statement anyone might encounter on the spiritual path, this moment was pivotal in Rupert’s life: ‘I realised that I had arrived home, that this encounter was the flowering and fulfilment of my previous thirty years of seeking’. When Rupert asked at that first meeting what he should do next, Francis replied, ‘Come as often as you can’.

Over the next twelve years Rupert spent all the spare time that work and family commitments would allow with Francis, exploring the sense of separation as it appears in the mind in the form of beliefs and, more important, how it appears in the body as feelings of being located and limited. Francis also introduced Rupert to the Direct Path teachings of Atmananda Krishna Menon and the Tantric approach of Kashmir Shaivism, which he had received from his teacher, Jean Klein.

Of the essence of these years, Rupert writes, ‘The greatest discovery in life is that our essential nature does not share the limits or the destiny of the body and mind. I do not know what it is about the words, actions or presence of the teacher or teaching that seem to awaken this recognition of our essential nature as it truly is, and its subsequent realisation in our lives, but I am eternally grateful to Francis for our friendship.’

Last year I bought a small statue of dancing Shiva, it's next to me like a bigger statue of Ganesh, I do have smaller ones of Ganesh too. I don't really worship deities like that, at least not often, but I do like what they symbolize like Ganesh is the remover of obstacles and I do ask for that, help and guidance too. I do have statues of monkey god Hanuman and Buddha too. The value for me in them is mostly aesthetic and visual, but I do think there is some energy to them. It's interesting that not only Christianity, but Hinduism has trinity too.

that's weird, the other night I dreamed I had a flower-like thing growing from my palm...an old scar had been bothering me for a while.

I've long felt that 3 is fundamental to the cosmos in all its forms.