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**Drifter** · 01-17-2012, 02:58 PM

The Secret of Life

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Spirituality lies at the heart of The Secret Of Life, so I decided that spirituality blogs should have a links page all of their own. I would like to expand this list, so if there are any other spirituality blogs you would like to see included here - either your own or someone else's - please get in touch. I'm also including self-development blogs in this list. Often, of course, the two categories are one and the same, though I am less interested in self-development blogs which are specifically business orientated. (For those, see Priscilla Palmer's Self Development List, which includes all kinds of self-development blogs.)

**Graybeard** · 01-17-2012, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by Graybeard

Siddhartha

THE SON OF THE BRAHMAN: The Prince who became Buddha

Siddhartha had started to nurse discontent in himself, he had started to feel that the love of his father and the love of his mother, and also the love of his friend, Govinda, would not bring him joy for ever and ever, would not nurse him, feed him, satisfy him. He had started to suspect that his venerable father and his other teachers, that the wise Brahmans had already revealed to him the most and best of their wisdom, that they had already filled his expecting vessel with their richness, and the vessel was not full, the spirit was not content, the soul was not calm, the heart was not satisfied.

cool bananas ... greg

**Drifter** · 01-17-2012, 03:50 PM

The Four Noble Truths

What is the First Noble Truth?
Dukkha: Suffering exists:
The first truth is that life is suffering i.e. life includes pain, getting old, disease, and ultimately death. We also endure psychological suffering like loneliness frustration, boredom, fear, embarrassment, disappointment and anger.
What is the Second Noble Truth?
Samudaya: There is a cause for suffering.
The second truth is that suffering is caused by craving and the needing to control things. It can take many forms: the desire for fame; the desire to avoid unpleasant sensations, like fear, anger or jealousy.
What is the Third Noble Truth?
Nirodha: There is an end to suffering.
The third truth is that suffering can be overcome and happiness can be attained; that true happiness and contentment are possible. lf let go of our craving and learn to live each day at a time (not dwelling in the past or the imagined future) then we can become happy and free. We then have more time and energy to help others. This is Nirvana.
What is the Fourth Noble Truth?
Magga: In order to end suffering, you must follow the Eightfold Path.
The fourth truth is that the Noble 8-fold Path is the path which leads to the end of suffering.
What is Dukkha?
Dukkha is suffering.
All existence is "dukkha"; without permanence and therefore filled with suffering.
The Noble Eight-Fold Path

The Noble Eight-fold Path focuses the mind on being fully aware of our thoughts and actions, and developing wisdom by understanding the Four Noble Truths. It is the way Buddhists should live their lives. The Buddha said that people should avoid extremes. They should not have or do too much, but neither should they have or do too little. The 'Middle Way' is the best.
The path to Enlightenment (nirvana) is through the practice and development of wisdom, morality and meditation.

Three QualitiesEightfold PathWisdom (panna)Right View (understanding) Right ThoughtMorality (sila)Right SpeechRight ActionRight LivelihoodMeditation (samadhi)Right EffortRight MindfulnessRight Contemplation (concentration)
What are the 5 Precepts (morals)?

These are rules to live by. The main five are:

<LI class=style40>Do not take the life of anything living. (Do not kill) <LI class=style40>Do not take anything not freely given. (Do not steal) <LI class=style40>Abstain from sexual misconduct and sensual overindulgence. <LI class=style40>Refrain from untrue speech, (Do not lie)
Do not consume alcohol or other drugs. The main concern here is that intoxicants cloud the mind.

Buddhism For Children @ : http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk...n/buddhism.htm

**Drifter** · 01-17-2012, 04:09 PM

Osho Quote on Krishna, Buddha and You

How to Be Free

Today I would like to share with you an excerpt from Mystic Master Osho, in which he urges you to just be yourself, be original and follow your heart’s whispers. It is always inspiring to visit the teachings of the masters from time to time, as I find the vibrations of their words and insights to often be catalysts for spontaneous and sudden inner transformation. I hope you find the words below to be equally inspiring, liberating and transforming.

Osho Quote on Krishna, Buddha and You:

Book: Courage – The Joy of Living Dangerously

The whole art for the new humanity will consist in the secret of listening to the heart consciously, alertly, attentively. And follow it, to wherever it takes you. Yes, sometimes it will take you into dangers – but remember, those dangers are needed to make you ripe. Sometimes it will take you astray – but remember again, those goings astray are part of growth. Many times you will fall – rise up again, because this is how one gathers strength, by falling and rising again. This is how one become integrated.
…

Never be an imitator, be always original. Don’t become a carbon copy. But that’s what is happening all over the world – carbon copied and carbon copies.
Life is really a dance if you are an original – and you are meant to be an original. Just look how different Krishna is from Buddha. If Krishna had followed Buddha, we would have missed one of the most beautiful men of this earth. Or if Buddha had followed Krishna, he would have been just a poor specimen. Just think of Buddha playing on the flute! – he would have disturbed many peoples sleep, he was not a flute player. Just think of Buddha dancing; it looks so ridiculous, just absurd.
And the same is the case for Krishna. Sitting underneath a tree with no flute, with no crown of peacock feathers, with no beautiful clothes – just sitting like a beggar under a tree with closed eyes, nobody dancing around him, nothing of the dance, nothing of the song – and Krishna would look so poor, so impoverished. A Buddha is a Buddha, a Krishna is a Krishna, and you are you. And you are not in any way less than anybody else. Respect yourself, respect your inner voice and follow it.
And remember, I am not guaranteeing you that it will always lead your to the right. Many times it will take you to the wrong, because to come to the right door one has to knock first on many wrong doors. That’s how it is. If you suddenly stumble upon the right door, you will not be able to recognize that it is right. So remember in the ultimate reckoning no effort is ever wasted; all efforts contribute to the ultimate climax of your growth.

Analysis of Osho Quote on Krishna, Buddha and You:

There are few points I want to highlight from the above excerpt which I think are very helpful to one’s spiritual evolution.
1. Embrace the Unknown:
Hidden in the above message, is the profound guidance that you should be open to life and be willing to go where she wants to take you. That is what it means to follow your heart. It means to not always take the safe, secure route, but be willing to try new things and new adventures, despite having no guarantees of success.
This will allow you to move into the new, and not be imprisoned by the insecurities of the ego. For the ego is of the past and is ever seeking security and safety. So to move into the new, is to move into life, is to move into insecurity, it is to move into the now, it is to move away from the entrapments of the petty self, and ultimately you will discover, that it is to move into love.
Be open to going with the flow, else you will stagnate and be dead, even while being alive.

2. You are not less:
This is really a remarkable lesson to learn and fully embracing this Truth is liberating and empowering. Don’t compare or try to be like anyone, you are unique and wonderful, just come into your own. Just be yourself. Then everything you do will come from the depths of your being. You will contribute in your own unique way. That is the responsibility of those who have tasted the Truth. To contribute to spreading the light in their own way and in their own words. As Krishnamurti advises those who are teachers and spiritual guides, "You Speak." That is enough.
As Ramana Maharishi points you, feeling incomplete is the essence of the problem and this incompleteness has its roots in comparison. Comparison between you and the "great ones" and comparisons between "what is" and "what should be". This is the root cause of missing the inherent perfection of the here and now. The answer is to simply let go.

Article Series - Insights from the Masters of Meditation

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**Drifter** · 01-17-2012, 06:00 PM

Influence

Jung has had an enduring influence on psychology as well as wider society. He founded a new school of psychotherapy, called analytical psychology or Jungian psychology. His theories include:

The concept of introversion and extraversion (although he did not define these terms as they are popularly defined today).[61]
The concept of the complex.
The concept of collective unconscious, which is shared by all people. It includes the archetypes.
Synchronicity as a mode of relationship that is not causal, an idea which has influenced Wolfgang Pauli (with whom he developed the notion of Unus mundus in connection with the notion of non-locality) and some other physicists.[62]
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Socionics were both inspired by Jung's psychological types theory.

[edit] Spirituality as a cure for alcoholism

Jung recommended spirituality as a cure for alcoholism and he is considered to have had an indirect role in establishing Alcoholics Anonymous.[63] Jung once treated an American patient (Rowland Hazard III), suffering from chronic alcoholism. After working with the patient for some time and achieving no significant progress, Jung told the man that his alcoholic condition was near to hopeless, save only the possibility of a spiritual experience. Jung noted that occasionally such experiences had been known to reform alcoholics where all else had failed.
Rowland took Jung's advice seriously and set about seeking a personal spiritual experience. He returned home to the United States and joined a First-Century Christian evangelical movement known as the Oxford Group (later known as Moral Re-Armament). He also told other alcoholics what Jung had told him about the importance of a spiritual experience. One of the alcoholics he brought into the Oxford Group was Ebby Thacher, a long-time friend and drinking buddy of Bill Wilson, later co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Thacher told Wilson about the Oxford Group, and through them Wilson became aware of Hazard's experience with Jung. The influence of Jung thus indirectly found its way into the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous, the original twelve-step program, and from there into the whole twelve-step recovery movement, although AA as a whole is not Jungian and Jung had no role in the formation of that approach or the twelve steps.
The above claims are documented in the letters of Jung and Bill W., excerpts of which can be found in Pass It On, published by Alcoholics Anonymous.[64] Although the detail of this story is disputed by some historians, Jung himself discussed an Oxford Group member, who may have been the same person, in talks given around 1940. The remarks were distributed privately in transcript form, from shorthand taken by an attender (Jung reportedly approved the transcript), and later recorded in Volume 18 of his Collected Works, The Symbolic Life ("For instance, when a member of the Oxford Group comes to me in order to get treatment, I say, 'You are in the Oxford Group; so long as you are there, you settle your affair with the Oxford Group. I can't do it better than Jesus.'" Jung goes on to state that he has seen similar cures among Roman Catholics).[65]
[edit] Art therapy

Jung proposed that Art can be used to alleviate or contain feelings of trauma, fear, or anxiety and also to repair, restore and heal.[11] In his work with patients and in his own personal explorations, Jung wrote that art expression and images found in dreams could be helpful in recovering from trauma and emotional distress. Jung often drew, painted, or made objects and constructions at times of emotional distress, which he recognized as recreational.[11]
[edit] Influences on culture

[edit] Literature

Laurens van der Post claimed to have had a 16-year-long friendship with Jung, from which a number of books and a film were created about Jung's life.[66] The accuracy of van der Post's claims about the closeness of his relationship to Jung have been questioned.[26]

Hermann Hesse, author of works such as Siddhartha and Steppenwolf, was treated by Dr. Joseph Lang, a student of Jung. This began for Hesse a long preoccupation with psychoanalysis, through which he came to know Jung personally.[67]

[edit] Alchemy

The work and writings of Jung from the 1940s onwards focused on alchemy. In 1963 Mysterium Coniunctionis was first published in The Collected Works of C.G. Jung. Mysterium Coniunctionis was Jung's last book and focused on the "Mysterium Coniunctionis" archetype, known as the sacred marriage between sun and moon. Jung argued that the stages of the alchemists, the blackening, the whitening, the reddening and the yellowing, could be taken as symbolic of individuation - his favourite term for personal growth (75).

**Drifter** · 01-17-2012, 06:06 PM

Hypnotherapy TRANCE WORLD

by Clifford Sawhney
Despite misty origins, hypnotism and hypnosis is increasingly being used as a tool in healing, entertainment and self-improvement
10 STEPS TO SELF HYPNOSIS

Self-hypnosis allows one to communicate with the subconscious mind and reprogram it for positive and permanent changes and even self-healing.

Here are the elementary steps:

1.
More >>

The leopard stalked the chital on silken paws. The herd fled, except for a sub-adult who stood transfixed. As their eyes met, the chital froze. It was hypnotized with fear. Within seconds, the leopard sank its teeth into her jugular. In her anaesthetized state, the chital felt nothing. Death in a trance was painless.

Shikar (hunting) books are replete with such narratives wherein the hunted are paralyzed with fear. As for human beings, the first recorded hypnotic 'performances' were held over 5,000 years ago at the court of King Khufu in ancient Egypt. The ancient Greeks used hypnosis to cure their sick. Seers at the Greek oracle of Delphi used self-hypnosis.

In India, too, yogis and rishis utilized self-hypnosis during meditation to still their minds. The Indian equivalent of hypnosis is sammohan. Says Dr Ramesh Paramahamsa, head of Delhi's Institute of Psychic and Spiritual Research: "Sammohan shakti has been practised in India since Vedic times. It can be defined as the power of attraction. Sammohan is inborn in every human being. Even while I talk to you, there is a kind of hypnosis where I try to attract and hold your attention, planting subtle suggestions. No yoga and meditation is possible without self-hypnosis. They are inseparable."

MODERN HYPNOTISM

In the West, it was in the 18th century that hypnotism took the first step towards evolving into a scientific discipline. The credit goes to Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), a German healer whose technique of laying hands on patients and imparting suggestions had therapeutic benefits.

Mesmer visited a French Jesuit priest, Father Maximilian Hehl, who cured people by laying hands on them. As the priest stroked each patient, Mesmer noticed that they went into a trance. On waking up, they were free of their ailments. Mesmer deduced that some form of energy passed from the hands of the priest to the patients.

A few years later, Mesmer began transmitting his healing energy through touch or iron rods using the methods of an exorcist, Father Johann Gassner. Mesmer called this 'animal magnetism'. Although popular with patients, Mesmer's unorthodox methods earned the ire of the medical community. He left Vienna for Paris in 1778 to escape harassment. There, he moved on to inducing trance by staring fixedly into the patients' eyes and making slow passes over them with his hands or a wand.

THE FLAG-BEARERS

Others took up the practice, keeping the embers alive. Dr Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893), a French neurologist who treated mentally ill patients, used hypnosis successfully and maintained a diary of his cases.

Charcot classified hypnotic trance into three stages: lethargy (physical relaxation), catalepsy (wherein the limbs could be placed in any position and made to stay rigid) and somnambulism (the deepest state wherein patients talked, walked or become anaesthetized). Charcot began giving lectures on hypnosis, one of which was attended by a young Vienna physician, Sigmund Freud, who later used it to treat his patients.

The year 1821, however, saw the world's first surgery being performed on a patient put into a deep trance. With anesthetics like ether or chloroform yet to be introduced, this was a breakthrough. Soon, word of this 'magical' cure spread to other countries, notably England, where Dr John Elliotson, who had perfected the stethoscope, began using it.

The gradual spread of the discipline in England led to its emergence in India through Scottish surgeon Dr James Esdaile (1808-1859), who worked in Calcutta, India. He began using mesmerism to anaesthetize patients during surgery. While other physicians handling scrotal tumors had a death rate of 50 per cent, Esdaile's mortality rate for over 200 surgeries of the same ailment was just 5 per cent.

The risk of ridicule did not deter the truly adventurous, though. In 1842, Dr James Braid of Scotland coined the term 'hypnosis' from the Greek hypnos (sleep). He used verbal suggestions on hypnotized patients with remarkable effect, calling it 'hypnotherapy'.

MYTHS VS FACTS

Hypnotism then had new protagonists—stage magicians. Although this kept it alive, many charlatans used hypnosis to dupe people. That's when myths began arising. In the words of Santhosh Babu, who does stage hypnosis: "People think the hypnotist can hypnotize anyone. And the subject will reveal all secrets and do anything that the hypnotist says. This is not true."

Hypnotherapist Dr Vanit Nalwa concurs: "In the past, hypnosis had negative connotations. To a large extent, the technique has been demystified and is understood to be a natural state achievable by most."

But, she admits, myths still abound: "I once got a call from an MP who wanted to know how hypnosis could be used to sway the electorate! People think the hypnotist can control their mind. I help people gain greater control over their own minds. People also fear they will end up revealing their dark secrets. This is irrelevant, because they anyway come to me to discuss their secret problems."

Hypnosis is not a state of deep sleep but one of altered consciousness. There is a feeling of well being, a higher threshold of pain, an ability to recall past events and the acceptance of new ideas that are not in conflict with personal values. The hypnotic state is like meditation, where the body is relaxed but the mind has heightened awareness. The ability to vocalise is limited, the limbs feel either leaden or light, tingly and numb. The perception of time is also distorted-an hour might seem like 10 minutes.

Although most people go into some state of hypnosis, some do not. Opines Babu: "Some may not trust the hypnotist or the process or may take more time to go into a trance."

There is a notion that those with 'strong will-power' cannot be hypnotized. Actually, left-brain people go into hypnosis faster than right-brain ones. In Dr Nalwa's experience: "Contrary to popular myth, intelligent people can be hypnotized faster. The only prerequisite is the subject's willingness."

**Drifter** · 01-17-2012, 06:07 PM

People fear hypnosis because they feel they are surrendering their 'will'—a feeling reinforced by stage hypnotists. Dr Nalwa says: "This is because stage hypnotists show subjects doing strange things. What people don't realize is that the stage hypnotist chooses only those who are highly suggestible. Illusionists like Paul McKenna and David Copperfield do such things too, but for entertainment."

About hypnotizing people on stage, Santhosh Babu says: "In a stage show, I put around 30 people into a trance. As long as they are willing and can hear the hypnotist, it could be any number." Mumbai psychiatrist Dr Dayal Mirchandani also says it is possible to hypnotize groups.

Is hypnosis dangerous? Yes, admits Dr Mirchandani. "It could be dangerous with patients who are severely depressed or suffer from psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, hence it should only be used by trained persons."

But according to Dr Nalwa: "Hypnosis is not harmful in any way. There have been cases abroad where women have made allegations of rape against male hypnotherapists. This is only possible if the subject lets it happen. No hypnotherapist can get a subject to do anything that s/he would not normally do."

Could false memories trigger such allegations? ''It's possible if a subject is asked leading questions that suggest the answer,'' Dr Nalwa stresses. Babu feels hypnosis is "never dangerous". Which is why the art was recognized by the British Government through the Hypnotism Act in 1952. The American Medical Association sanctioned the official use of hypnosis by physicians in 1958.

Another unfounded fear is that once put into a trance, there is a possibility of not coming out of it. The truth is, a person can always come out of a trance at will.

There are numerous ways of inducing hypnosis, including the fixed gaze, progressive relaxation, mental misdirection and oral commands. On induction techniques, Dr Mirchandani says: "Each therapist uses his favorite technique or one according to the client's personality. I generally use story-telling." Dr Nalwa says: "I use talking to induct subjects into a trance."

According to Santhosh Babu: "In traditional hypnosis, it is focusing on an object or a voice intensely. In modern hypnosis, it is creating a relaxed feeling or using indirect suggestions."

USES AND BENEFITS

Hypnotism has found a place in medicine, psychology, entertainment and even dentistry. The benefits are-self-improvement, curing mental, emotional and physical ailments, controlling weight, past life regression and anesthetic benefits during surgery. Says Dr Mirchandani: "Self-hypnosis is useful for certain problems, while others need hypnotherapy."

Clinical hypnotherapy only works when the patient believes s/he can change. Says Dr Nalwa: "Hypnosis helps change attitudes, the key to changing behavior. A person is made independent enough to solve his problems. But the primary aim is healing. If you can think yourself sick, you can think yourself well too."

About past life regression (PLT), Dr Mirchandani voices caution: "Sometimes there is PLT, though the veracity of the recall is often questionable as the person can be guided to imagine things."

For learning the art, Santhosh Babu attended workshops at the Atheist Association in Kerala. Dr Nalwa learned it in England. Doctors and psychologists can learn it at the Indian Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis.

Hypnosis is especially useful in tapping the awesome power of the human mind. In 1901, Edgar Cayce found that while hypnotized, he could diagnose physical ailments and recommend treatments, either not well known or long forgotten. How? Cayce's answer-he was in touch with the subconscious minds of the patients, besides having access to the superconscious.

Like meditation, hypnosis then could be another way of attaining cosmic consciousness. Hypnotherapist Irene Hickman agrees in her book, Mind Probe Hypnosis: "The proper use of hypnosis can demonstrate that we are indeed more than just physical-that we are truly an immortal soul or spirit clothed in and operating through a physical body."

It is about time we stopped ignoring hypnosis-and, thereby, cosmic consciousness.
You may be interested in

Hypnotherapy

**Drifter** · 01-24-2012, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by Graybeard

cool bananas ... greg

http://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Her.../dp/0553208845

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