I've noticed on this forum, and pretty much everywhere else, that there's an intense searching going on. There's a massive shift going on in the collective consciousness and everybody is pretty much in constant upheaval... I know I sure am. Most of the time I feel like I've got a boot up my ass and somebody stuck my head in a cement mixer but I have some tools that help bring me back to me. I was wondering if you have tools that help you out that you'd be interested in sharing. Here are some of mine. A Course in Miracles In some ways this spiritual text has helped me more than any other thing. From the first day I started reading this my life shifted, fast and radically. I wouldn't be here as I am without ACIM. If you go for it, hang onto your ass! lol You're in for quite a ride. Reiki. I've been using Reiki now on and off for five years or so. It has helped me tremendously in increasing my awareness and giving me tools with which to heal myself and others. You guys. It might seem kind of strange but when I look up and see that everybody else is struggling with everything I feel better because I'm not the only one... you know? we're doing it together. HUMOR!!! if you can't laugh at everything and yourself it's gonna be a long journey indeed! lol
^^ yes, exactly! The Course has helped me a lot too... and i'm hangin' onto my ass, but i don't think it's doin' much good, lol! but flying away into something new is what i wanted, so it works! i also have to add "Healing Yourself With Light" by LaUna Huffiness (hope i spelled that right)... i'm not very far into it, but so far it's really helped me open up and sensitize, and find pieces of myself. i'm taking it pretty slowly, because going inside myself is proving to be very intense... but it's a very positive, gentle, loving and light-filled tool to help with the personal growth journey. not your average self-help book (YAY!).
Good thoughts, jrnyman. You folks on this forum help keep me level, too. What I really miss sometimes is my copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. I used to read through the Zen stories over and over. It's lost somewhere in piles of boxes in the basement. Maybe I should just give up and buy a new copy. You may think this odd, but one thing that helps me is to watch the movie Fight Club once in a while. It helps remind me that some of the crazy stuff I've been through, some of the things I've done that are totally unsensible, are all somehow arranged by myself, partly consciously but largely subconsciously, for my own ultimate benefit, and to integrate parts of myself I've cut off in the past. It's a very psychologically astute story. Also the portrayal of Marla Singer by Helena Bonham Carter reminds me a LOT of the woman who inhabits my mind at all times and used to reply out loud to my unspoken thoughts when I was with her...the juxtaposition of the story and this character do interesting things to my state of mind.
Awakening: A Sufi Experience by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan...an excellent book with some really nice meditations on light and the elements. You Are That! Satsang with Gangaji... Volume 1 is what I have...Also, practicing my Reiki. Looking forward to ACIM....
I'm actually glad you mentioned movies, zengizmo... I use movies a lot too. they help me feel. it's like an emotion on tap. sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by other people's emotions that I want to control what it is that I feel. I can also have a hard time releasing emotions sometimes so I use movies to help me release the buildup. example last few days I was feeling a huge emotional pressure and watched RENT. It's like a love atom bomb and r e l e a s e it was really nice. I should also mention reading. I love love love to read! I grew up reading science fiction and fantasy... anything magical or futuristic. Helps my imagination soar! And playing music and writing.... I think I'd be dead without expression.
*sigh* Spirituality can not be found in a book. Spirituality can not be found in a song. Spirituality can not be found in a movie. Spirituality can not be found in another. Spirituality is within. Throughout the ages people have been trying to 'pin it down' and it can not be done. No two people can ever see the same thing. Spirit is within. I know that there are many questions which we ask, and many of us seek outside ourselves. Beware and be aware for many get lost this way. Keep an open mind, no one has all the answers. I am not trying to be negative. I just feel that all this needs to be said for 'that certain someone' who will be reading this. You are your own master. If you need help it will be there, but only you know your truth. Strength is within. ---------------- Now playing: Tipper - Unlock The Geometry
well said. unlocking potential is a good 'spiritual tool'. the key is in your heart. listen to what is calling you, once you hear it, youve unlocked it...follow it, and the universe will be waiting..
I was raised a very strict catholic and when I started this spiritual journey of mine, my mind was pretty closed, so I went out and bought books on Hinduism, Buddhism, The Native way, Sufism, Wiccan, Pagan....you name it. It really opened my eyes. Best thing I ever did for myself. I am on my own personal spiritual path now, but all those books were tools to help me get there.
Yes. To use the Zen analogy, the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon - but without the pointing finger, lots of us wouldn't know where to start looking. Just like guiding words in a forum post... But Nivekian's point needed to be stated.
Hi Zen Oh I do agree with Nivekian, I"m just speaking for myself. I needed those books to get me started. Otherwise I would still be in the confessional LOL.....
I did a lot of reading myself, trying to figure out what I was going through as a child. It did help a little, by giving me the proper terminology to describe my experiences and a few remedial techniques of psychic self defense and kundalini control. Without which I would have likely been committed. Though, it was the universe that led me to the book store to begin with and it was the owners of the book store that helped me the most by letting me tell them my experiences and discussing different possibilities. ---------------- Now playing: Snog - Hey, Christian God
ya...you gotta love that universe, always pointin' you in the right direction....wish I were a better listener sometimes...LOL.
I was trying to straddle the fence and agree with both of you and hoping not to injure myself in the process. It was my psychic ummm "friends" who turned my life upside down and forced me to absorb some lessons, but if not for all my readings I would have been a lot more lost by that process. And the readings and, yes, movies, are still a big help to me in integrating my experiences. And music - like for example, Tool, speaking of tools haha.
I actually disagree with Nivekian's first post. I think you can find spirituality in all those things. I think you can find spirituality everywhere. It's been my experience that we can find growth and opening through whatever is accessible to us at the time. Books, movies, other people... whatever, it's all a form of that universal unification in my eyes. So all of these tools are the inner voice and guidance. I don't think there's a wrong way to yourself as long as you get there. And really there's nowhere to get since you're already there. Sometimes it just takes a trigger to remember that. That's why I use these tools. They help remind me of me. I find limiting my perception of my internal self to only my thoughts, emotions and this particular version of myself I call me to be just as limiting as saying that worshipping the toaster down the street, as outlined in the toaster guru handbook, is the only way to nirvana. For me the experience of being human is about constant growth and constant discovery. As long as I'm here I'll be uncovering and growing in some way. And of course you can dance your dance any way you like... cause I sure as hell will.
Of course an equally true version of this is: Spirituality can be found everywhere. It's when you cannot find the divine in something you touch that you have missed the chance to gnow your own divinity. The vessel is there, it is up to you to pour your awareness into it. Part of the beauty of creation is that no two see the same thing. Spirit is. No one has all the answers, but everyone (and every thing) has a partial answer. Teasing it out clarifies your perception. Every book, person, city, flower, or song you have been drawn to has a near infinite supply of small and large messages specifically for you. Be influenced by everything, feel to the magnitude and direction of your responses to your experiences. Get lost, for you cannot but help finding yourself. In the final analysis, you are always your own master.
I also really love ACIM. I first started studying it back in 1995 and it had a profound impact on me. It's been one of my major influences. As well as Reiki. Oh and another big one is Eckhart Tolle. I highly recommend his work.
