New Baby!!

Aww. Now Jack will have a baby sister. Congrats! :biggrin:

Edit: if it's a girl that is.

 

i've met that dilemna myself as well. iirc you have denounced shamanism previously, while extolling the merit of shaman-esque psychedelic use on the basis of not needing a guide or teacher to tell you HOW to trip. also, i know that you find value and wonder in many spiritual traditions the world over, so long as they provide an opportunity for legitimate spiritual growth and a closeness to god....

perhaps this is a situation wherein your teachers are shortsighted? all religions world over, even some smaller, humbler ones, have some degree of hubris, over-certainty in their teachings. this is truth. perhaps this is a case of your teachers denying the true value of psychedelic use because while it provides a wonderful new way of seeing, understanding, feeling, interacting with, and loving creation and the divine simply because they can do the same -types- of things in a different way without drugs....a way with which they are more comfortable, more at home...their way. which is a very valuable way. but not the only way. simply because psychedelic use did not eventually establish itself as commonplace among the faiths in which you are most interested and it is discouraged by your teachers does not make it invalid practice.

you've always struck me as an iconoclast. forge your own path - i dont see why you couldnt maintain a practice combining moderate psychedelic use with regular meditation practice. the two seem perfectly matched, to me.

and even if you do not like shamanic teaching structures and traditions, there IS much to learn from them as well. they do truly live their spirituality in a way many religions do not.

 

The argument being that you get high and then come down.

Going to a place of peace and eternal heightened sensation is the only way to keep it forever. Though the psychedelics can be a great tool.

Each person walks his own path and makes choices for him/her. If you feel God....then do it.

I understand the struggles though. Its so hard to know which path will lead to the top of the mountain....but they all do with persistence and surrender.

 

don't forget Sophia is a name absolutely steeped in spiritual meaning as well!! it is representive of motherly, womanly wisdom and love...in some gnostic christian traditions, the female side of god, what is called in orthodox christianity merely the "holy spirit" which is all but forgotten, but all important....probably the most important part of god, in my opinion.

personally its one of my favorite names for a woman, and if i ever have a little daughter it is a VERY likely choice. though Naomi would be right up there with it, also a very pretty name. and cool because it is a name that simultaneously came around in two different cultures with obviously two different meanings (though i'm unfamiliar with them)...its both a biblical name and a japanese name, if i'm not mistaken. {i just looked it up, the biblical name naomi means "pleasant" and the japanese name naomi means "beautiful"}


for boys i've always liked the name joshua.

hey, i was looking at names.....heres a cool name of gaelic origin: arzhur. its unique and a damn cool name, plus (and i think this may be of significance) it essentially means "bear-man"

other forms of the name include "arthur" but are generally less cool

 

We havent talked about it, but I want to.

 

I didn't find out with my daughter and the anticipation was so much fun.

 

But Im so curious!

 

I have the best esposo!!

 

you guys certainly seem to be a damn good match

 

Indeed! It is very refreshing to see.

 

congratulations! it's so nice to see you guys so excited about it all, i hope you have a wonderful and healthy pregnancy

 

I bet you are glowin yourself Tiger

I love good news and happy endings.

*sigh*

 

Aww you people are so sweet , but yes we are a good match. I have a wonderful esposo, he just came home from the store and got me yummy juice and got me a card with babies on it. It made me cry

 

hey! i know you guys are going to probably get that new townhouse, but i've arranged a little something, so while you may move in earlier than the beginning of october, i expressly forbid you two to move in sooner than a week from now, just in case

 

Congratulations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYKkdqbsFes&feature=related



Hotwater

 

I would have to!! So I can pick names better and also its clothing

 

I like Anna for a girl and Jack for a boy. Thats what I think my babies will be. Anna Sonja, and Jack something.

 

hotwater would have cutie babies.

 

I'ma name my daughter Sophia. And my son Pavle
Or Benjamin...

 

I've pondered it and pondered it Colin, the very idea that maybe the masters are shortsighted when it comes to psychedelics due to fear of the unkown and the uncomfortable.
Here is my main thing about it. Psychedelics seem to exist for many reasons, to heal, to bring bliss, to frighten and teach respect, etc. but it seems the main reason they are around is to shake the foundations of our belief systems which we have built up, belief systems which soothe and give hope to an otherwise loney and frightened species who are aware of themsevles but cant figure out why. This is a very good thing, and I dont think they are inherently stepping stones off of the spiritual path. They are a tool, and the determination for karmic accumulation or negation lies with the intention of how we use the tool.
But, for example, my main two teachers who I have faith in entirely, who I never disagree with and no matter how I try and question the teachings they make I can not find anything that I dont agree with, are Paramahansa Yogananda and Swamiji Maharaj Sri Yukteswar. When you read the account of Swami Sri Yukteswar slapping Yogananda upon the chest, above his heart, and blessing him with his first immersion into Cosmic Consciousness around the turn of the 1900's, the way he explains what he experiences as it is already reveals that he has a visual connection with the mechanics of Nature and the light of creation which DMT enthusiasts claim they have undergone but can not explain, but Yogananda explains the experience in such beautiful poetic detail and from what I gather, it is much more intense than any psychedelic experience as hard as that might be to conceive. But not only that, he takes no drug, there is no mention of feeling any sort of dreamy state or any introspection, but rather he is blessed by his Guruji in a divine energy transfer, he is slammed full force into watching reality rips into fathomless numbers of peices and break down further and further until he perceives the grid structure of light which he says is composing reality, as his physical/astral/causal bodies are dissolved into the same liquid light and his soul stretches to the extremities of the entire macrocosmic manifestation. And this was only his first experience.
Later on in his autobiography, he details an experience where he is deep in meditation and longing to go into cosmic consciousness again, and when he opens his eyes he sees a bright yellow/green/purple light between the point where his vision meets, and it exlpodes out into him, absorbing his entire being until he is able to look down and see his subtle body composed of the same light. Well the rest of that experience I cant really remember, but what blows me away is not only the similarity with psychedelic experiences yet they seem so much more intense because they come from meditative effort or a guru's blessing alone, these guys have been experiencing this before the West even knew about magic mushrooms let alone LSD, and they have absolutley no fear! They never seem to describe this cosmic consciousness state as having to watch the ego die like we learn to do on drugs, because they do that naturally with a rigorous lifestyle of self discipline and an unparalelled thirst for God realization.
So when I take my experiences, and weigh them against my Masters, and am left with the true feeling that I truly have seen nothing yet, and I better follow my Gurujis advice if I want to feel the true power of total oneness brought by sober efforts. It is all very confusing, but of all the supposed saints, preachers, and gurus in this world, I get a very profound sensation when I even think of Yoganandas name.
He actually blessed me with a vision once, about a year ago, that was far removed from any spiritual or psychedelic experience I've ever had. Yogananda mentions many visions he has during his lifetime in almost all of the books he had written, and until it happened to me I never really understood what he was talking about. But one night last summer, while in a very light meditation suprisingly, only 5 or so minutes in, I noticed my connection to my sense organs completley shut off without any effort as if I was a Self realized being all of a sudden. And then, I found my self, only I had no body, I was just a spherical, panoramic sense of receptive perception with no means with which to project any energy, and I was staring directly into Yoganandas eyes. As he gazed back through mine, no words were exchanged, but I was having a rough period of stress during that time period and I understood from his look something like "It' ok, I am always here with you, dont ever feel like you are alone. Whenever you are confused about which path to take, meditate and ask your divine Lord for guidance and you will feel the answer. You have been on the right path for some time now, but you have not known it, and I am always your true, loving friend John."
And when it finished, I was back on the couch with my legs tucked under me, my heart was beating like crazy and I my cheeks were soaked, and I realized that I had been crying the entire time I had the vision, but was not crying anymore. But then of course, I started crying again and it felt like bubbles of euphoria and a sense of transcendental purpose and hope were rising out of my stomach.
I've shared this experience with only a handful of people, and some are lifetime long Yogananda devotees in their 50's and 60's, and they all were very suprised to find that I had received a vision from Guruji at such a young age.
A lot of what is out there, in fact most of it, is BS mysticism and fake miracles trying to make a buck or to entertain the minds of those lacking purpose and seeking guidance/assurance, but I assure you that Yogananda and Yukteswar were not false teachers. As Yogananda says "Nothing may be said to be a miracle except in the profound sense that everything is a miracle."
I have struggled for a few years trying to decide who is right, me or the self disciplined yogis, and I am at a cross roads now, that I feel is going to lead me to the discipline of my Guruji. He gave me a vision that I am entirely 100% sure was authentic soul communion, as it was like nothing I have ever dreamed of before. Sometimes, I still get frightened when the reality of God's unknowable cosmic unfolding plan hits me full force and overwhelms me, because I have much ego attachment to balance out and sink into the pool of divine love. It's all so much that it hurts at times, and that's why I believe people like Yogananda have existed, to teach us and to embody all that is love in order to liberate us from our deepest fears, which some of us are not even aware yet what we fear the most because we havent been exposed to it.
Anyway that's where Im at currently, though I will never turn a blind eye to what psychedelics have taught me.
God Bless +