Markfromcali

Joined

• started 89 topics
• posted 1,434 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Markfromcali

• 
  117

  Signs of an Awakening Kandalini!!

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paste and clip:.

  http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/ksigns.html.

  signs and symptoms of awakening.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  Hi Dolph,

  I think our disconnect here is simple: Your talking about phenomena that people chase looking for a spiritual high and I'm talking about a specific phenomena, kundalini, which through it's phenomena/experiences to transform someone into an awakened being.

  Not exactly. The point I want to make here is that regardless of whether you went looking for the experience or not, the mind has a tendancy to grasp or avert, and those extremes simply make for a more violent experience. So in terms of addressing the suffering a person might be undergoing you need to address the mental behavior of grasping and averting, which may be happening on a subtle level without you being aware of it. In other words, "you" make it into suffering. This is what I meant when I say some people are naive, because their whole identity ends up being formed around the experience - when the point is exactly the opposite. Years later you still hear them in Yahoo chat going on about the experience and they haven't a clue as to what its about. Even though the intense physical experience may have subsided, their suffering just becomes the spiritual identity of someone who had a kundalini awakening.

  It sounds like you have basically the right guidance. Remember, if its about not identifying in any way, then having someone who can identify with the experience is really secondary - you know what I mean? Best to seek understanding, and that's not about having some thought as an answer.
• 
  117

  Signs of an Awakening Kandalini!!

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paste and clip:.

  http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/ksigns.html.

  signs and symptoms of awakening.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  City, I mentioned this in one of my replies - it's inquiry. The thing is, most people turn enlightenment into an object for seeking, whereas the whole matter is about what is real, what is true. The most direct way to do that is simply to inquire, which can take the form of questions such as Who am I? What is this? Its not meant for an answer, thats just another mental object. Its quite simply an open curiosity without the assumption of some pre-existing spiritual system, which would imply that you can't really do it as a practice, as if repeating a specific question many times will magically wake you up. But if you are so honest as to ask a question like "what does being enlightened mean anyway?", then that would be real inquiry.

  Outwardly focused practices are progressive and kind of approaches it from the outside in, whereas inquiry is direct and from the inside out. This is what I was getting at in terms of consciousness as opposed to energy work. In this context even energy work would be more surface and outwardly oriented, but yes as pointed out it's nice to have that foundation of health.
• 
  117

  Signs of an Awakening Kandalini!!

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paste and clip:.

  http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/ksigns.html.

  signs and symptoms of awakening.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  Errrg. I'm such a beginner

  Not at all. The above are just words and concepts on a discussion board. A few of the words are so vague as to not have any decent definitions, and not one of the ideas is original. You are just fine.

  Amen. A lot of "spiritually advanced" people never learn this basic lesson, that it's just concepts. When you really look at what they're doing they are just indulging in the thoughts, doing more of the same thing doesn't make you advanced in any way.
• 
  117

  Signs of an Awakening Kandalini!!

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paste and clip:.

  http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/ksigns.html.

  signs and symptoms of awakening.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  LT: No I never did silk reeling, I'm not sure if that's something they teach in Yang style. Like many the place I learned Tai Chi doesn't really explain a whole lot, there's just a lot of forms and push hands practice. The qigong class I'm taking now is taught by a doctor of medical qigong (China) and it IS explained why you do everything, one exercise is the same as Fair Lady and I now know which meridians it dialates and so forth.

  At this point I'm not even all that interested in energy work, especially when I see people do it from a gross state of consciousness and it just kind of makes me shake my head and go "man..." because I know it can be much smoother if they approach it from there first. Of course, when you really go there there's no telling if you'd still be interested in that kind of work. So... Basically it's kind of hard for me to take it all seriously.
• 
  117

  Signs of an Awakening Kandalini!!

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paste and clip:.

  http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/ksigns.html.

  signs and symptoms of awakening.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  Dolph,

  I think there may be some misunderstanding. I was talking about qigong as it is energy work, but it is a practice so I'm not sure what symptoms you are pointing to. I have not talked about any experiences I've had because in this case it will probably just further distract and would be what one might consider as "unskillful." Besides, I'm no longer fascinated by such things.

  To be frank, in my experience some people who have had such experiences are actually kind of spiritually naive. Whether they realize it or not, there is some clinging to the experience - if there is no clinging there would be no suffering, and very often there is clearly suffering. It is as if the energetic shifts is not accompanied by any understanding.

  By understanding I do not mean having found this information that it's called kundalini and the context of that knowledge system, but understanding yourself, the nature of mind. We might say the physical shift is not balanced by a mental shift in this case, which would be a shift of identification. All ego death means is the death of that identification, you still have a personality structure - you just don't identify with it. This shift of identity can happen before you have any spiritual experience, which is more a matter of it happening from the inside out, the central core has changed and it just kind of spreads out naturally from there. In contrast, some people who have intense experiences may never have it go that deep, in which case it's just suffering and something for the mind to identify with.

  Its just energy. Its not to be ignored, but clinging or aversion to this experience is as much egoic behavior as doing so with ordinary experience. The real work is to inquire what is this you take as "I", that is the direct way. When that is seen through you won't be sitting there having ideas about "your" relationship to the experience, there will just be the experience and it can then run it's course unimpeded. To be honest such energetic shifts is really quite shallow when you compare it with a shift of consciousness, actually there is no comparison. You can have these experiences and barely scratch the surface in terms of consciousness itself, or not at all.

  As a side note, some people may have done other work like qigong or Tai Chi which renders any such reharmonizing of the body minimal - intensity of the experience is not really an indicator of how genuine it is. In any case, the thing to do is to just be aware of what's going on, not get all caught up in stories about it (even if there is some truth to it) or the drama. And again, to address it directly you have to look deeply, beyond the experience.
• 
  117

  Signs of an Awakening Kandalini!!

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paste and clip:.

  http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/ksigns.html.

  signs and symptoms of awakening.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  Such phenomena may or may not happen in an actual spiritual awakening, just don't go looking for it if what you want is to wake up.

  The thing is fascination with phenomena is pretty much the opposite of wakefulness. What I've found is someone who is awake can be into this stuff or not, either way they are not fascinated because from that perspective everything in life is equally good, if they are into it it's just what they happen to be into.

  As far as qigong is concerned, there is more to standing meditation - and strictly speaking other types of 'gong' that goes deeper, I did that when I was doing Tai Chi in order to build energy. (it's a wuji meditation) You should be able to find info easily, but send me a pm if you don't. You can break down the practice in 4 parts: dispersing, (cleansing) gathering, circulating and storing, so wuji would be just the gathering, with a lot of practice being circulating. It's nice that there's this focus on health as a foundation, but in terms of consciousness it can be a basically gross state even if you work with energy.

  There are more direct ways that can lead to awakening which just happens to make you more sensitive in this regard - but don't think in terms of doing it in order to improve your energy work. Awakening goes much deeper, it's a whole other discussion from any energetic phenomena associated with it.
• 
  7

  Find a Jehovahs witness group in Calgary

  by Peng Zhao in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am interested in jehovah witness.

  and i am living at calgary.

  could anyone tell me how to contact jehovah witness group in calgary?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  Hi Peng Zhao, I am Chinese as well. Are you relatively new to western culture? Sometimes people from another culture are impressed with how nice the Witnesses are and how warm they are compared with others, but what they don't recognize is they are associating with you for the purpose of their preaching work, and not just because they are nice people. In fact, one of their teachings is to be 'no part of the world', so they really don't have much to do with people outside of the organization in general.

  Aside from that, you also need to consider whether what they teach makes sense, if it's true. Just because nice people say something it certainly doesn't make it true. If you want to enjoy other people socially, try doing this without studying or joining their religion. But as far as the religion is concerned, it's just a matter of being honest with yourself. It wouldn't be very honest to believe in an entire religion just because some of the people in it are nice.
• 
  42

  If you could give a "local needs" talk what would the topic be?

  by doodle-v in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pretend you have a chance to get on stage and give a "local needs talk" what would the topic be?.

  heres mine:.

  "get out of this cult!!!".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  I suppose the theme could be something like "Are you guilty of idolatry?" The basic outline would be to show how all mental contructs of Jehovah, "The Truth" and such are mental idols. Of course the problem is the idea of the faithful and discreet slave pretty much throws any reasoning out the window, unless I show THAT as an idol...
• 
  25

  What other religions background do you have?

  by Pinned Blouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was wondering what if any other religious background any of you had other than being a jw and if you have any comparisons.

  i was brought up as a 7th day adventist.

  once i was on my own as an adult, my former sis-in-law started studying with me and the rest was history.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  Hi Pinned, welcome to the board.

  I think like many, I looked at different religions after leaving but did not join any. There are some organizations where there is actually nothing to join, no membership of any type, you just go if you want to go. The last of these for me was Buddhism I suppose, and even though this is a religion that emphasizes (well, depending on the sect) your own investigation, direct experience as opposed to belief, there is still that element in there. There's a saying on the board that you can take the dub out of the Watchtower, but you can't take the Watchtower out of the dub. While I don't believe this is an absolute, it certainly makes the point about how hard it can be and how that basic mindset stays with you even after you leave, even if you don't join any other religion. This is why I eventually just dropped the whole belief oriented approach to spirituality altogether. This would be another discussion, but your question is a good starting point. Enjoy your time here.

  Mark
• 
  23

  Is your 'reality' just thought?

  by Markfromcali in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  most of the time there seems to be talk that essentially consists of whether this thought is better, is more logical or makes more sense - but what about the nature of it being just thought?

  in one way this may seem obvious or boring so as to be easily dismissed, but for example when it comes to religious beliefs things can get really screwed up, even if you think your particular brand is better.

  (however, this would not be limited to religion) it would be like someone who thinks everything on tv is real, and being disinterested in that fact in favor of being entertained by the various stories portrayed in all the shows.. consider the follow quote from thought as a system by david bohm.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Markfromcali

  More from Thought as a System:

  Q: Are you saying that we have a psychology in which our well-being is based on having affirming images, and that that psychology could never stand up as a real base for well-being because sooner or later we're going to get negative images?

  Bohm: Yes, so long as we take these images seriously. If we can be cheered up by positive images we can be depressed by negative ones. As long as we accept images as realities we are in that trap, because you can't control the images. You may be getting some nice positive images from the people around you and along comes somebody who gives you an extremely negative image. Then the very channels which made you feel good because of the positive image enable you to feel bad because of the negative image.

  ---

  Bohm: It's all the same whether you say that you're wonderful or that you're guilty. It's just one image instead of the other. The fundamental process is not different whether you say 'I'm the greatest and the best', or you say 'I'm the worst, I'm guilty of everything'. It is the same process and the difference is rather secondary.

  (italics mine)

  However, in this recognition there is a kind of peace isn't there? Even if you are still caught up in positive and negative most of the time, that recognition implies there is a higher order of intelligence.