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Re: The straightjacket of scientific thought
I can relate to this. I’ve had a similar journey although I still have respect for science and its place in the world.
There’s just so much it hasn’t and cannot answer
Bunks
The straightjacket of scientific thought
This morning I came across a post I made on another forum, from three years ago, and I realised that something significant for me had changed. Over the last three years I have let go of my belief in scientific truth, in believing more in proven science than in my own experience. That has been a shift very much to do with religion, and with acknowledging my own experiences.
In religion you come across all kinds of thoughts that are not compatible with either scientific truth or your own experience. For example the gods of Hinduism, or the devas of Buddhism. These things don’t need to be taken literally, you can take them as otherworldly, or astral, or other dimensional. They are mythical truths, that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.
If you think of the world as purely scientific, just what is proven, you don’t give yourself much room for manoeuvre. Just because you can’t repeat an experience, does that mean it is untrue? I remember one extraordinary experience I had on the edge of sleep, of an encounter with a shaman dressed in bright green and yellow and feathers and a golden mask. In the end he blew a powder on me and I fell asleep.
In the end, this experience and many others made me think, the world is much more than only the material, and I decided to let go of science. In the end, all of our beliefs, conditionings, look to me now like limitations, things to ultimately be let go of. For me this was a big one, next to games perhaps the single biggest influence in my life.
Jeroen
Re: Discord
It was me, and thansk for the invite, but it's not for me. I don't like to be restricted in how I approach or talk about Buddhism. I know that many Buddhist forums discourage topics like politics, but I'm a very political person and Buddhism has political implications. It's not just the internal practice, but the external actions we choose. And since I know I'd bring it up on occasion, I left the server. Saves me the trouble of getting scolded. lol
Jason
Re: The rarity of the spiritual life
@Jeroen said:
The thing is, I’ve been to other reunions from earlier schools which were a lot less materialistic and more fun. But my high school was in quite a well-to-do place, lots of families with money, lots of ambition from those who didn’t have it, so maybe that had something to do with the general ambience.
What other common ground do you think your ex classmates could meet on other than career and financial gain?
Bunks
Re: Getting better "blog"
From another thread...
@marcitko said:
@how said:
The herd gathering of such reunions tends to re-link us to attitudes that we largely held and shared during those formative years of early socialized behavioral conditionings.One of my best friends since high-school moved abroad three years ago. He was my drinking-buddy, but also spiritual friend, especially once we both mostly quit drinking. Yesterday he and his family came back home for the first time for holidays. When he said "I'll call you, let's go for a beer!", I experienced a surge of un-equanimity: desire (to have a few beers like in the "good old days", anxiety (that I will drink), pressure (to behave like we used to do)... Ay carumba, as our dearest @lobster would say!
Luckily, we did not meet yesterday, and will maybe go for a coffee today. That sounds much better
I'll still have one or two beers with him while he is in the country, but just once, and hope to be much calmer about it.
Well, that was a lousy idea. I've fallen, made a mistake. Had three beers with my friend - more than I had in ages. Of course, I felt and feel lousy as a result. I feel ashamed, fearful/anxious - but also committed to a new path.
The new path is that I just don't drink, at all. I did this for several years too and it was not at all a problem, in fact it was very pleasurable, simple, and easy. Easy because the decisions were easy - I just don't drink - simple. Discipline = freedom, as they say.
I drank because I felt anxious. My thinking is that I've got two better options, the first is not to go (then I often get ridiculed, but who cares), and the second is to go and just be anxious (again, who cares, if being anxious is "what is", then that's what is).
Sage advice and positive energy welcome 
PS. Drinking is more damaging to me than others - firstly because of my anxiety/high-sensitivity and secondly because of the medication I take - so I'm not looking for advice that would condone drinking.
marcitko
Re: Getting better "blog"
At the reunion I was at, I also drank significantly more than I had in years… I had four beers and a glass of wine that evening, while I usually drink no more than one beer every couple of months. I didn’t get drunk or anything, but I didn’t like the feeling, it was a good reminder why I usually don’t drink.
For me, not drinking comes down to having a good look at what is beneficial about drinking and what is unbeneficial. I dropped it because it affects my perceptions, it distorts my inner feeling of presence, it makes me sleep worse.
Jeroen
Re: Modern teachers and money
but was more suspicious of the levitation course where folks only seemed to learn how to hop a bit up and down from a meditation posture.
It would seem the only thing which actually levitates is the money being lifted from the bank account...Now that's real levitation practice and some so-called teachers are really good at that....
Shoshin1
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
Bearing in mind (pun intended) the mind can play tricks on the self ( hmm and the self can play tricks on the mind)..._ one can also daydream with eyes open or closed_...
It's possible for one to daydream about the experience which thoughts have conjured up, thoughts about what the person had just read/seen/or listened to-the thought seeding the daydream, so to speak
What was the passage in the book you were reading when it happened ? Did it have some connection to what you have experienced?
Shoshin1
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@Jeroen said:
I had an interesting experience yesterday while reading U.G. quotes… at a certain point I felt the impulse to close my eyes, and suddenly I was not. I mean, there was no body, no mind, no thoughts, just a blank awareness. Not much sense of time either, so I have no idea how long it lasted.
This is a special kind of practice which is called 'dozing off', and I experience this quite a bit during the day...in fact I'm becoming quite good at it 
Shoshin1