Your religious/spiritual journey

RJM said:
Whatever. Others have had profound life changing experiences of altered states of being

The Doors of Perception
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Psychedelics can definitely rewire the brain and create new pathways of creativity for those stuck in mental ruts.

That's an altogether different issue from encountering any so-called entities (which you mentioned in post #72).
 
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Ahanu said:
Psychedelics can definitely rewire the brain and create new pathways of creativity for those stuck in mental ruts.

That's an altogether different issue from encountering any so-called entities (which you mentioned in post #72).
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Whatever you say @Ahanu
 
Modesty said:
Thank you for sharing your story! I don't think I had ever heard of the Unity Church until a little while ago, which is surprising because its apparently quite popular. I've seen several people mention it here. It seems to be influenced both by Christianity and New Age beliefs?
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It is more of an offshoot of new thought (Emerson, Thoreau, Quimby...) all though many new agers are there...it started as a eeknight metaphysical Bible study...with folks who went many different places on Sundays...till the participants wanted to go both Wednesday and Sunday...so the Filmores started a church...and probably more than half meet in rented spaces.
 
Ahanu said:
Oh, I am sorry. I do not understand your reply.
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It means I'm not getting into an argument about whether supernatural entities exist: I've seen a goat footed satyr sitting on a rock, and experienced a succubus vampire entity, and felt the presence of other 'beings', and of people who have passed on from this world -- and not on psychedelics, so ...

We are surrounded by countless other dimensional life forms, and also astral entities and other earth-bound 'ghosts' trapped in the earth-surround, imo

Big subject ...

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I have been delivered of witchcraft (suicide) by a truly holy 'psychic' person, who taught me so much, most realized only years after her passing, long ago now. She taught me God's protection as reality
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Our very dimensional existence (our 'coat of skin') shields us from so many outside forces which would destroy us not because they're evil but because we simply are not capable of understanding them. We are like little children in a nursery school, imo

We are protected
 
Modesty said:
Are you talking about these people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh_movement? I've never heard of the orange people before. Were you a "pioneer"? I remember reading about Baha'i "pioneering", it's a very unique practice. Thank you for sharing your journey!
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Thank you for the follow up questions. Yes that was them.

Yes we homefront Pioneered to where we now currently live. We also Pioneered and spent time in Cooktown, and I was very fortunate to spend a couple of years in the Solomon Islands helping with some Baha'i projects. I see many in the Western world need to live and experience 3rd world conditions.

Regards Tony
 
JustGeorge said:
Time moves on, and life became hard again, and I was no longer able to meet up with my Buddhist friends. My husband and I had met another couple who we studied religion with, and I'd gotten a copy of the Gita(with commentary). My exposure to Hinduism was limited at that time, but the book had caught my eye. I read it a bit, and a part: "Krishna has so many arms; why don't you let him carry your problems?" I thought it was cute and laughed, but moved along.

Up until around that time, I'd lived with severe anxiety. It affected many areas of my life, making it extremely difficult to connect with other people or to get simple things done. There was at least one panic attack a day, typically more. I was driving somewhere, and the hyperventilation started up, and it was to a point where I'd have to pull over... and I just got mad. Real mad. And for whatever reason, I recalled that bit of commentary in the Gita, and I asked Krishna(rather rudely), if he all thought this was funny, because I sure didn't! And! He could just have it, so why doesn't he use his arms, and take it away!" And I felt a hand go into my chest, and remove something heavy. And then I felt light, mentally, physically... I could hear friendly laughter. So! It was funny after all! And I went home a new person, and my husband had no idea what to do with me, merely that I was very different... and that began our journey into Hinduism. And that's the path I've been on since, though one of the friends I mentioned and I do kind of an interfaith blend between our two faiths(Pagan and Hindu), for we both lack community otherwise.
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Thank you for sharing your journey- it is a fascinating one! I have also experienced that kind of divine intervention. Would you say your practice of Hinduism is mainly centered around Krishna then? I know Hinduism is very diverse, and some strands focus more on certain gods than others.
 
talib-al-kalim said:
I think that there's a lot of wisdom behind religions. One cannot follow all at the same time but it is worth while to study the paths and teachings.
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Thank you for sharing your story! It's interesting that you and several other people here have mentioned having irreligious or lukewarm religious parents. It was the exact same for me. And yet we clearly all take religion quite seriously! I wonder if some people are just naturally more inclined to religiosity than others.
 
Modesty said:
Thank you for sharing your journey- it is a fascinating one! I have also experienced that kind of divine intervention. Would you say your practice of Hinduism is mainly centered around Krishna then? I know Hinduism is very diverse, and some strands focus more on certain gods than others.
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Not at all! Krishna's a deity that I connect with deeply, but I am very polytheistic in my approach. :)
 
My parents were Indians living in UAE but belonged to the Syrian Orthodox church. I remember attending weekly Masses as a child which basically involved standing up for 1 hour listening to priests conducting the ceremony in Aramiac/Syrian(dont recall), a language which few, if any, of the congregation understood.

While my folks strongly believed in Christianity, they let me walk my own path once I reached my teens. That led to reading, and reading about, the Bible and Christianity in general. I mainly noticed the opposing polarities of the Old Testament and New Testament, talking about Yahweh and Jesus, but showing them as very different in nature. I realized that was the nature of confusing factors in those studying the whole of Christianity. If you wanted your truth to represent a judgmental, murderous or negative element, you used the OT god as your go-to. If you wanted your truth to represent a forgiving, loving or positive element, you went to Jesus. I doubted that most Christians relied on the OT much, except the fundamentalists. I rejected the organized religions in general. While I agreed with large parts of Jesus' message, I found it hard to believe in the supernatural aspects. For me, he was a loving man who was accepted by the masses in general because his message was more acceptable and loving compared to the other teachings of his time and place. i.e.Judaism and Islam. Killed on the cross, his message was continued by early followers who may have added embellishments to its telling. So I was strongly on my path to agnostic atheism.

I followed that path until I had a strange experience that I still cant explain scientifically. I was staying at an Ayurvedic resort that was treating my father. One day, I just heard a voice in my head referencing me by name and saying "First, I was one, which became two, which became three, which became many things." I couldn't explain the words or even understand why I had heard that. So, I decided to research religion more thoroughly because there was a whole divine message feeling about it. I started looking into eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. That led me to Advaita and Daoism. The latter was the most astounding of all because that line matched perfectly except for the last 2 words with the 42nd verse of the Dao De Ching!

I looked more into Zen, meditation and nonduality after reading the Dao fully. I also looked more into Gnostic mysticism. Things like psychokinesis, lucid dreaming and the sound of silence interested. I tested psychokinesis with psi wheels but never got anything. I never fully achieved lucidity in dreams. Came closest in one dream where I was dancing while wearing a T-shirt which read "I am a lucid dreamer" but even that failed to trigger lucidity! After that dream, I thought maybe the drugs I was taking at the time for my epilepsy just dulled my mind too much and since WILD and MILD were messing with my sleep too much quit LD seeking completely. However, a few weeks in meditation on the SoS led me to it!

I began to start doubting science's automatic denial or unacceptance of things that could not be known in the physical world. Relying on devices and physical recreations as sole truth sources seemed to be much like the dogmatic ideas of fundamentalist religions. I thought if both religion and science could join hands, much could be achieved but that day seemed very unlikely. That is, until I started seeing online a group called Science And Non Duality(SAND). A growing group of scientists who had decided to test achieving Oneness personally instead of as a empirical experiment. I kept searching for info on Oneness and generally went along with meditation until several years later experienced something which i believed as the state of self-realization as Oneness. The event happened out of the blue as I was tying my shoes one day. My perspective of reality changed completely even if reality stayed the same. It even healed some of the mental illness issues I was having.

But as the months wore on, I failed to see much purpose in living with this illusory reality and illusory self. What is the purpose of being I ask myself? In fact, if I am truly an infinite being dreaming, why did i go to sleep creating the illusion of being a mind with finite limitation in a made up dream universe? The only excuse I can find is that all of us are God trying to escape the banality of infinite divinity --- a state where there is nothing to challenge the mind. Will I return to that state when this body dies? Will I fall asleep again? Or was the whole Oneness experience some unexplainable mind state of the finite brain recreating a Knowing of Infinite Being?

I have found Interfaith a very loving community to throw those and other questions into to see the explanations and ideas of others form a loving forum where anyone can share their views and beliefs as long as they don't start forcing them down the throats of others. Very different from early Christian, Muslim and Atheist groups I earlier went to on the old days or IRC. But I find myself withdrawing more and more from the Internet as I live. I will be 45 years old soon and I find many of the young generation living under greater illusions than before. I really wanted to make a Youtube channel talking about realistically living with psychosis as a mental illness --- something I had too, and still on some level do, as mental illness. I am finding it hard to create content videos that I can believe would not be seen as armchair psychology.

Currently, I experience the highs and lows of my brain as flow states. Highly creative in one and incredibly torpid in the other. Most of my time nowadays is spent on my Kindle, Netflix, meditation and walking. The Kindle is the most frequent one since I am an absolute bookworm. While I have a preference for the fantasy genre, I enjoy everything except romance. Nonfiction related to history, spirituality, biology and the world in general aslo interest me.

Since I am housebound due to mentall illness, I find banality in my life. Maybe it is a chance to teach myself to prevent falling asleep again when I return to the banality of the divine infinity? Or is it a chance to let myself flow between these states without trying to control my being into forcing some states to be and denying those that aren't but want to? At least I see myself as lucky in other ways, because thanks to my family that has supported me always in my life, I no longer need to worry about money, shelter or medication and I will never have to face the responsibilities of being a husband or father.
 
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Vasu Devan said:
That is, until I started seeing online a group called Science And Non Duality(SAND). A growing group of scientists who had decided to test achieving Oneness personally instead of as a empirical experiment. I kept searching for info on Oneness and generally went along with meditation until several years later experienced something which i believed as the state of self-realization as Oneness. The event happened out of the blue as I was tying my shoes one day. My perspective of reality changed completely even if reality stayed the same. It even healed some of the mental illness issues I was having.
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Thank you so much for sharing your story! If you don't mind, can I ask what you mean by oneness and what your experience of it was? I've heard the term before, along with nonduality, but I admit I don't understand it well, or what experiencing it consists of.
 
Modesty said:
Thank you so much for sharing your story! If you don't mind, can I ask what you mean by oneness and what your experience of it was? I've heard the term before, along with nonduality, but I admit I don't understand it well, or what experiencing it consists of.
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Well, I believe the oneness state is what the daoist's call the Dao, Buddhism calls Enlightenment and Hinduism calls Advaitha. It ends the subject-object nature of our consciousness in this reality - where we are aware of ourselves as an awareness experiencing other objects/people that we are not. In oneness, there is no separate 'other'. You experience yourself as 'all that is'. Essentially, you experience 'being' infinity as opposed to simply being aware of it as an imaginary concept. I had no form, no senses but was simply an infinite consciousness. Even no emotions but there was a sense of great abiding peace and when i returned to this dual reality we all share, i felt an incredible and as yet unmatched feeling of unconditional love. It didn't last long and when i tried describing it to my family right away, i was taken to a psychiatrist who told me it was not real and simply 'a delusion'. Thanks for telling me the veracity of a state which you read about in a textbook as opposed to one which you never experienced Mr!

The actual experience can't really be described by language to another who has not experienced it also. After all, how do we define infinity in this world except as 'all things that exist'? Thus separating it into many objects again. For me, the simplest fitting abstract definition is being all that is.
 
Ahanu said:
What are your favorite fantasy books?
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My favorite fantasy author is Terry Pratchett with his satirical, funny Discworld series. For drama and darkness though, I've enjoyed Wheel of Time, Game of Thrones, Black Company, Mistborn and currently, maybe best of all, on the path to finishing all the Malazan and Witcher books.

The antihero styles of main characters and story in many of those books is what keeps me hooked. Even on Netflix, the similar style(neonoir) is what attracts me to a series like House of Cards, Ozark, Better Call Saul etc. It's what kind of matches my current philosophical perspective about reality that even darkness is a part of me and can be loved as well. i.e.Not the original 'this is good and that is bad' sense of perspective
 
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Vasu Devan said:
Well, I believe the oneness state is what the daoist's call the Dao, Buddhism calls Enlightenment and Hinduism calls Advaitha. It ends the subject-object nature of our consciousness in this reality - where we are aware of ourselves as an awareness experiencing other objects/people that we are not. In oneness, there is no separate 'other'. You experience yourself as 'all that is'. Essentially, you experience 'being' infinity as opposed to simply being aware of it as an imaginary concept. I had no form, no senses but was simply an infinite consciousness. Even no emotions but there was a sense of great abiding peace and when i returned to this dual reality we all share, i felt an incredible and as yet unmatched feeling of unconditional love. It didn't last long and when i tried describing it to my family right away, i was taken to a psychiatrist who told me it was not real and simply 'a delusion'. Thanks for telling me the veracity of a state which you read about in a textbook as opposed to one which you never experienced Mr!

The actual experience can't really be described by language to another who has not experienced it also. After all, how do we define infinity in this world except as 'all things that exist'? Thus separating it into many objects again. For me, the simplest fitting abstract definition is being all that is.
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Thank for you for explaining it to me :) it sounds like a beautiful and profound experience.
 
RJM said:
Our very dimensional existence (our 'coat of skin') shields us from so many outside forces which would destroy us not because they're evil but because we simply are not capable of understanding them. We are like little children in a nursery school, imo

We are protected
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I have a theory about this. I feel like God gave us a natural protection in our brains. People will disagree with me but I am speaking from my faith and personal experience. When a person does something that lowers their natural inhibitions or does something that makes them open to suggestion they are opening themselves up to the demonic realm. Examples are hypnotism meditation astral projection talking to the dead various drugs and yes even some television shows/ movies frequencies of sound occult practices... the list goes on. I'm not saying that if you do these things you will be possessed but I feel like you open a door inviting yourself to be a plaything. I've had experiences as well some were frightening and some were God inspired.

I've been thinking about starting a thread about this.. basically supernatural experiences from each side.
 
Faithfulservant said:
I have a theory about this. I feel like God gave us a natural protection in our brains. People will disagree with me but I am speaking from my faith and personal experience. When a person does something that lowers their natural inhibitions or does something that makes them open to suggestion they are opening themselves up to the demonic realm. Examples are hypnotism meditation astral projection talking to the dead various drugs and yes even some television shows/ movies frequencies of sound occult practices... the list goes on. I'm not saying that if you do these things you will be possessed but I feel like you open a door inviting yourself to be a plaything. I've had experiences as well some were frightening and some were God inspired.

I've been thinking about starting a thread about this.. basically supernatural experiences from each side.
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Although I agree in principle, I may differ in the particular -- meditation, for instance
 
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RJM said:
Although I agree in principle, I may differ in the particular -- meditation, for instance
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I would probably be more specific about that one. I think the purpose of emptying your mind would be more apt. I meditate on scripture.. so it needs more explanation probably.
 
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