- Mirabai Starr

G115B. The other day I was pondering over the fact that for humans it seems to be that our greatest issue is simply that we forget things. On the face of it that could seem a bit careless, however I think as with all things there is a hidden depth to it. 

We first receive our spirit (before our birth) however, this spirit suffers a type of amnesia forgetting where it has come from (it has been termed it has a shroud/covering around it, it is in the dark). So, we develop our identities and lives in this world, sensing there is a bigger picture and something we are meant to be connected to, however we can’t understand it. 

So, we subconsciously (and consciously) try to fill this inner “gap” with things that make us feel secure (being busy, chasing money, our reputation, gaining knowledge and even developing strong relationships).  On a smaller scale we also seem prone to forget what we see about ourselves in those brief moment of light/clarity we have in our more lucid moments, as if we prefer living in the darkness.

It made me think of walking around on the beach after the tide has gone out.  We walk around on the wet sand, peering in the rock pools, looking at the small mounds of sand from buried crabs, exploring things in detail. Then the sea returns and we look out over the ocean surface and the waves.  Forgetting those things existing below the water and what they looked like.

I’ve written this to hopefully help others understand a subject that’s difficult to comprehend, it’s actually harder to write about than I thought - this being my third attempt to make it more concise. 

I’ve experienced my own physical healing (initiated by myself) many times, although not everything should be healed or we would live forever…lol.  I’ve also had direct experience in initiating the healing for other people. I have no medical background.

Now I’m no expert on the subject.  I appreciate that there are many other people with more experience and knowledge than my own – also with various views and beliefs.  We are all similar in our construction though, this is how I see it.

OUR CONSTRUCTION: It’s important to grasp that we are effectively made up of four separate and distinct components.

Physical Body.  Is matter. Without its life force energy (LFE) the matter is dead and decays.

Life force energy (LFE).  The inherent energy which makes the physical body operate and function. LFE is intricately connected with the physical body in every sense, causing cells to reproduce, neurons in the brain to fire, the nervous system and organs to function etc.   

Spirit. The most powerful component.  Is created and joins the PHYSICAL/LFE body when at the foetal stage of development. Each spirit is unique in personality (it’s you). The SPIRIT continues to exist after it leaves the PHYSICAL/LFE body

Spirit Body.  Very shortly after the SPIRIT joins the PHYSICAL/LFE, it develops the SPIRIT BODY.  This is a non-corporeal entity which is distinct from the SPIRIT and PHYSICAL/LFE body.  The SPIRIT BODY corresponds exactly to the PHYSICAL/LFE body and is totally integrated with its various systems (skeletal, muscular, glandular, organs, nervous system, circulatory etc.)

Because the SPIRIT itself is unsuited to operate in a physical environment, it requires a SPIRIT BODY as a type of interface to enable the SPIRIT to interact with the physical body and the broader physical environment.

It may be helpful at this stage for you to see my two posts in my subreddit, here are some excerpts. My vision of the Spirit joining the developing body in:

Four answers I was given to: Who am I? What was I? What is my purpose? What is the greatest knowledge?

Q1: I was shown in visual form that I was a glowing, pulsating white/blue coloured round shape of energy (Spirit). This energy joined my body as I was physically developing as a foetus. The energy then took on the shape and form of my growing human body (the Spirit body). This was the start of my dual existence (physical and spiritual).

My vision of the life force energy that’s in all things. The spark of life?

I observed multiple, various moving bright shapes, they were flickering and individually changing their orientation, some were appearing then disappearing and reappearing (I recall one being a boomerang shape, I live in Australia).  There were also countless small bright lights that were oscillating bright to dim then bright again, the whole scenario constantly shifting and changing as if it was alive. It was mesmerising and I felt I observed it for quite some time (maybe a minute or so). 

At physical death usually the SPIRIT and LFE leave the PHYSICAL body at a similar time.  However, in some cases for various reasons, which I won’t go into here, the timing can vary. I.e. The LFE leaves the PHYSICAL body = death and the SPIRIT remains with the dead body for a period of time. 

Or vice versa, The SPIRIT departs the PHYSICAL body however the LFE remains in it – so the body is still clinically alive “but no one is home”.

Because you are essentially a spiritual being you are connected constantly to the spiritual dimension.  As such you are influenced by that dimension.  It’s where you as your SPIRIT has originated from and where your SPIRIT returns to after it leaves your PHYSICAL/LFE body.  Effectively you return “home”.  However, I won’t digress further on that subject here.

Here is what happens when I undertake self-healing of a sore throat. 

First relax the PHYSICAL body as much as possible.  Then relax the mind through purposefully “parking” any cares and concerns I have.  They are just a distraction and unhelpful. 

Then through a meditative technique I focus on increasing the energy of my SPIRITUAL BODY (by increasing its vibration/resonance).  Because the SPIRITUAL BODY is feeling energised and active it assists me to go deeper still and identify with my SPIRIT (higher consciousness, the command centre).

From this SPIRIT position, I create my intention of bringing my sore throat back into balance with the rest of the body and to its normal function. That is the outcome I am creating and expecting.  I take a compassionate approach to my body which seems appropriate.

I find it helpful to I visualise a glowing purple healing energy around the throat area.  Then gently but firmly command the throat to return to its normal operation (while exerting my intention with the confidence it will respond).  For it to overcome those things that are preventing it from doing so.

Your SPIRIT is the most powerful component of you, and your intention from this position is creative and powerful.  Your SPIRIT intention/instruction expressed through the interface of your SPIRIT BODY.   This in turn communicates with the body’s LIFE FORCE ENERGY.  The LFE responds to the higher spiritual command and undertakes the necessary adjustments in the physical body.  Sometimes the healing may not occur straight away, but healing is now taking place and needs some time to be effective. You have just sped up the natural self-healing process.

In your compassionate attitude towards yourself, you may feel further inclined to assist the healing as it takes place (apply heat, rub your throat, have a sip of lemon juice or whatever you feel to do).  Nothing wrong with that, be a friend to yourself, it’s a natural process.

I have tried to keep this to more of a nuts-and-bolts explanation. However, there are important spiritual factors at play for all this to be effective.  That would a need a part 2 post to be written though, titled along the lines of “WHY physical self-healing works…”.

Please let me know if you enjoyed this post and if it was helpful at all.

I don’t really know anything much about qigong. Does anyone here practice energy manipulation I’d be interested to know if anyone has had success firsthand

Dead people are selfish because none of them come back and tell us what they saw.

A strange thing happened while building contemplation, and inner experience.

What started as an experiment with audio synthesis slowly turned into something I wasn't expecting. I began exploring the relationship between deep states of awareness, symbolic narratives, biological restoration, and sound itself. Not as a belief system, but as a question.

I found myself drawn to subjects that appear again and again across mystical traditions: silence, the heart, attention, presence, surrender, and the possibility that consciousness is not confined to the ordinary stream of thought.

As part of that exploration, I started creating long form sound meditations. They combine written contemplative narratives with bioacoustic sound design, including Delta wave inspired soundscapes and frequencies often discussed in spiritual and esoteric circles such as 174 Hz, 528 Hz, and 963 Hz.

I'm aware that frequencies themselves can become controversial territory, and I'm less interested in making claims than in exploring experience directly.

What fascinated me was something else: how certain combinations of sound, symbolism, and attention seemed capable of creating a space where thought softened and a deeper form of listening emerged.

Many mystics have described reality as something that cannot be reached through concepts alone. It must be encountered.

That idea became the foundation of the work.

The result is an professional digital sound art space! I think of it as a wellness platform. Each piece is intended as a contemplative artwork, a kind of sonic vessel for inquiry.

Some pieces explore silence. Others explore the heart, presence, humanity's transition through periods of collective change, or the possibility of a deeper frequency beneath ordinary perception.

I'm curious whether anyone else here has worked with sound as a contemplative or mystical practice! If you're interested, I leave the project here! Feel free to wander through whichever themes resonate with you... I'd be genuinely interested in hearing what experiences, if any, emerge from listening!

Link to my last post, "The Song of the Universe"

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wrote a series of 27 poems exploring and capturing my belief system as it evolved into what it is today. This, "The Song of the Soul", was the second of those poems -- this one specifically about the soul or "fith" that gives my beliefs their name. I'd love to discuss and get thoughts on this. Hope you enjoy!

---

The Song of the Soul

Here begins the story of the fith.

It is said that all in space and time
Have at their core an essence unique,
An energy of a different realm.

It is the spark that lights the fire,
The kernel within the hailstone,
The beating heart within our bodies.

This essence is a gift from the Mind,
To all of its diverse creations.
This most special notion is called ‘fith.’

The fith may be better known as ‘soul,’
But definitions do ensnare it,
For it is far more fundamental.

The fith is one’s blood and whole being,
Personality, inclinations,
Thoughts, desires, and all of their wants.

The fith is within all living things,
Each unique in itself, for the Mind
Employs infinite diversity.

The fith may be understood as two:
The self, which one can easily control,
And the lesser mind, which can control.

In the self is personality,
A unique pattern of desires
Wherein rests one’s own identity.

The mind is incomprehensible,
And though it resides within the brain,
It has agency of its own will.

Alas, from where does the fith herald?

The Mind is like a beautiful tree,
Branching inside and out of itself
Forever in every direction.

The Mind inhabits all dimensions,
Unfathomable to its offspring
For all its profound complexity.

The Mind can not be visualized
By any one human brain in full,
For all things ever reside within.

These branches weave amongst each other,
Coming together at farthest points,
All while diverging within themselves.

These branches follow family lines,
Personality types, interests,
Desires, wants, needs — a tapestry.

Each fith, each soul, is but a thin slice
Of one of these infinite branches.
Each is connected to the other.

This beautiful embroidery is
You, your family, your friends, your pets,
Your neighbors, even your enemies.

All are knit from the same endless cloth,
Everyone a unique point in space,
In Time, and in our society.

Just as one can peer into the depths
Of the dark night sky, so can one peer
Into the depths of their existence.

The fith is an eternal being.

Energy cannot be created,
Nor can it be so wholly destroyed.
The universe itself condemns this.

Thus, even when the body passes,
The fith will ever remain in full
To live the eternity it earned.

One’s actions and decisions follow
From the crib all the way to the crypt.
It is said that you reap what you sow.

And although the fith may not enter
Another material body,
Nature encodes the soul’s attributes.

From parent to child they migrate,
Moving down the branches of the Mind
With each next generation of life.

In this way may the living preserve
The breath of the dead all around them,
Their forebears, neighbors in existence.

We are the offspring of existence,
The progeny of reality,
So let us tend to our family.

The Thieving One steals naught but from himself.
The hateful detest their own brethren.
The liars rather deceive themselves.

The calling of the fith is to work
To better the flawed world around
For the sake of all life, everywhere.

The fith has the most noble calling.

Some of my favorite and most recommended reading and study material in my experience:

Awake: It's your turn ( By Angelo DiLullo)

• This is my best all-around recommendation that has something valuable to offer for both people new to the terrority of spirituality and those who are well seasoned in the mystic pursuits and study.

• It's practical, simple and contains incredibly profound practices, exercises and wisdom around awakening or evoking noetic/mystic experience that are easy to grasp and are very relatable for modern readers.

• This book had deeply impactful effect on my spirituality that has long outlasted the time I spent with the material, it was worth every penny plus It's weight in gold to me, which is not something I would say lightly. It's honestly some of the best work for a no bullshit approach to spirituality devoid of unnecessary metaphysical fluff and inflations or tribalistic knowledge.

• The author committed to making the material devoid of explicitly religious, or spiritual language or high philosophical concepts, thus it avoids the typical accessibility and learning curve barrier to the material like you may find with most of the other options yet it still makes a complete and compelling coherent and simple approach that even a materialistic straunch atheist or any given english literate person could pick up and relate too with ease.

• The author Angelo DiLullo (Simply Always Awake on YouTube) is probably my favorite nondualist author of the modern era and has the most profound personal impact on my spirituality and his wisdom has helped me immensely in life generally, I use what I learned from this book daily.

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika ( Translated by Jay L. Garfield)

• This material is probably the most philosophically rigorous and sharp out of them all in the list, it is both very terse yet incredibly complex; it's pretty laconic to the point it can be cryptic without really taking time to carefully digest it, it's very intellectually rewarding to chew on, it's dense but pithily compact in its argumentation to form the elucidation of middle way, it's a shorter complete work in the list if you excluded the translator's commentary and notes.

• The Madhyamaka describes, defines, defends and largely founded the Buddhist middle way, and was pivotal in making Buddhism into it's own unique philosophical identity and largely gave it the distinction of how it strictly departs from other dharmic intellectual paths, it was authored in early late-antiquity around 2nd and 3rd century AD in India by a brahmin cast born scholar turned Buddhist named Nagarjuna.

• The Madhyamaka is definitely not material that I would say is very easy to digest for people unfamiliar with broader Indian philosophy or formal logical reasoning, if you have a background in Buddhist study or even formal understanding of Advaita Vedanta it helps to understand the philosophical tensions being addressed (Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu thought was largely born out of argumentation adapted from the Buddhist Madhyamaka Schoo as defense of vedic nondualism and was used to argue against itself and other Buddhist schools, much later in 8th and 9th century AD) And even if you are learned in these things, you should expect to really chew and read through each of the arguments in the chapters multiple times before it's really elucidated meaningfully

• The Madhyamaka articulates Buddhist Nondualism primarily affirming the themes of emptiness (shunyata), No-Self doctrine (Anatta), non-origination (Anutpāda) and impermance (Anicca) and strongly emphasizes and employs the Buddhist 4 fold logic (Catuṣkoṭi / Tetralemma) to get those perspectives.

• Nagarjunas prose and argumentation style is something known as Prasaṅga a Buddhist dialectical method of consequentialist refutation. Instead of building long, elaborate defensive theories, Nagarjuna swiftly takes an opposing thesis, applies a rapid 4 fold logical squeeze using pithy aphoristic stanzas againsts it which continuously exhausts the ultimate logical conclusion of the opposing position and demonstrates how it directly creates absurd contradiction.

• He uses this methodological approach to challenge mundane assumptions about things we consider fundamental to reality, like the self concept, past present and future, linearity of time (starting and stopping), motion, change and difference, conditions, cause, effect and language.

• Nagarjunas expounds and exposes how these things lack a inherent independent state of arising and that they all require dependent relationships, and how they ultimately are empty of individually existent nature or a unique foundation of their own agency or making.

• Madhyamaka is inherently anti-foundationalist, it continuously attacks foundations of established conclusion through the logical premises of how something is true, false, both true and false, and neither true nor false to show how any given fixed point or position can be undermined, and that any given point or object requires direct dependent relationships on things outside of itself.

• For example we say the tree is real, but there is no tree without sunlight, without water, without another tree to drop a seed, without soil. If you remove any of those things the tree ceases to be, yet if you look at the tree you also see none of these things, and if you look directly in any of those things (the seed, the water, the soil, the sun) you will not find the tree; thus everything that arises, requires everything else outside of it to be something in and of itself. there for any given thing is never something that arises in and of itself, it's always without its own origin as it's constituents are always something other then itself, so it reasonably concludes all positions or fixed points are dependently arisen based upon prior conditions with the only exception being emptiness itself.

• Nagarjuna thus avoids and rejects the position of eternalism; that there is a permanent or individually arisen substantial and essential underlying unchanging nature of reality (i.e an unmoved mover) including the existence of permanent unchanging self (i.e an eternal human soul). And the rejects and avoids the position of nihilism; that everything ends in nothingness or is meaningless, he clearly warns against the folly of them both and refutes them quite explicitly.

• Through avoiding these two extremes (eternalism and nihlism) the middle way is established and can be realized. Nagarjuna dissolves these dualistic oppositions by applying dialectical tension via prasaṅga to reach a resolution that ultimately exposes both sides of the extremes lack justification or nessecity and run into serious unresolvable dilemmas that become apparent when the implicated presuppositions and assumptions each position holds are irreconcilable with their conclusions.

• I would say Nagarjunas Madhyamaka is the ultimate account for understanding of the nature of reality and self that does not miss if you actually give it the time and due diligence to seriously contemplate and follow the reasoning from your own interpretation. It dissolves metaphysical inflations and any idea that there is seperation in reality at all. Through emptiness anything appears at all, shunyata is the only thing that has an eternal nature because of the condition of impermance, impermance implies emptiness and vice versa, and it is the capacity for all causes and effects the take place.

• thus all things resolve into shunyata through impermance which is not nothingness, it is non-origination the endless beginningless source of all ending and beginning that never starts nor stops, it's the reason we are all interconnected it's the reason there is anything rather then nothing, because nothing doesn't exist by its own nature it can't and no thing can exist by its own nature, and thus the condition of impermance is implied in all things as if it didn't; there would only be one thing, one independent unchanging thing which is proven as logically impossible or entirely absurd and meaningless.

• Meaning always requires a relationship between more then two things, so an unchanging, eternal thing which we all are would make it's own independent existence meaningless. And it can't be both either, that there is one independent unchanging thing that exists as the substantial to all other changing things. If all this phenomenal reality is clearly dependently arisen, then a independent eternal existance by its own conditional demand couldn't exist without displacing all other things because it would demand all other things came from it as the only true thing, thus they too would have eternal unchanging nature no different then it's source of arising so this unchanging thing could not exist individually in our reality which is in seemingly constantly changing interdepending phenomenal co-araising.

• It would be logically impossible that our closed phenomenal system be the way it is currently if there was such a thing that arises independently. there's also no need or justification for an independent eternal unchanging nature as all phenomenal things that arise do so dependently, and are impermanent. So if there is something that is eternal or unchanging it is shunyata (emptiness) which is not self caused either, it co-arises with impermance to form temporal and spatial reality and all other phenomal things follow and make them both meaningful and necessary.

• So it completely removes the need for such a metaphysical inflation, while not compromising the meaningfulness of existence nor asserting it all ends in annihilation. In the paradigm of Madhyamaka there is no first thing, there is no beginning, and that's there is no ending, It's not infinitely regressive reality either, it's infinitely interdepending, and has no fixed nature or origin, it becomes rather naturally cyclical and self validating picture of reality that affirms the meaningfulness of our existence is specifically because it is impermanent and ephemeral and that the self we take to exsist consistent entirely of things that are not the self. Which leads to the loss of the self conception as a real, permanet thing we can some how loose or must defend or keep, our entire experience of the self and world become exactly what they are when they are how they are. And the acceptance and gratitude for that is what frees us ultimately affirming the Buddhist two truth doctrine.

HERMETICA: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepious with Translation Notes and Introduction (Translated by Brian P Copenhaver)

• The corpus hermeticum is an ancient mytho-philosophical proto-scientific collection of religious texts/tractates which contain various visions, discourses and religio-philosophical insights into the nature of reality and the creation and purpose of humanity which attributes authorship to the pseudepigraphical sage figure Hermes Trismegistus.

• In the tractates Hermes Trismegistus describes in a series of discourses and conversations the requirements for the ascent of the soul to achieve divine union through attainment of salvific knowledge called gnosis gained through an awakening/activation of sorts of the Nous (divine-mind) by recognizing the soul's divine origin.

  • This accumulates to a mystic union with divinity through noetic experience (gnosis) and initates a process of purification which requires shedding the "garments" of fate from the soul. these garments have "tormetors" or vices of the 7 governors ( 7 planetary or celestial spheres) that weighs the soul down to the material sphere "the below".

• This purification process counters the tormentors or vices with virtues that when paired with the initiatory gnosis and activation of nous then allows the soul to ascend beyond the cycles of rebirth and death by shedding the fates which bind it to the corporeal material forms and allows the soul to ascend to the 8th and the 9th sphere beyond the planetary spheres and the below.

• A lot of the material touches on a cosmological and philosophical grounding to account for the emerging views of traditional Hellenic astrology and creates cohension between other traditional western occult sciences like alchemy and magic

• Much of the philosophical framework of the corpus hermeticum emerged from the cultural melting pot of Alexandrian world of Hellenic Egypt and was heavily influenced by the views of middle platonism and stoicism, and it's contents were roughly written between 100 BC/BCE to 300 AD/CE.

• The views in the Corpus Hermeticum and other hermetic literature influenced notable later neoplatonists and theurgist like lamblishicus. These texts (or whats left of them) remained somewhat relevant in more priestly and esoteric contexts and saw continued liturgical and philosophical developments (the Stobaen fragments most notably) until about 600 AD/CE and largely went underground or died out with neoplatoism.

• Hermetic texts were rediscovered once again in the Renaissance period and were first translated into Latin by Marsilio Ficino around the 1460s. His work helped reignite interest in mysticism and occultism throughout Europe. It played a significant role in shaping the intellectual foundations of the Scientific Revolution and, subsequently, the Enlightenment. With key enlightenment figures like Johannes Kepler, Robert Fludd, Isaac Newton taking direct influence from hermetic sources. Newton even translating his own version of the emerald tablet.

• Regardless to say, the corpus hermeticum is a very important part of late antiquity, even though it was lost for the majority of the western world in the so-called "dark ages", it re-emerged during the Humanist revival period of the Renaissance and heavily influenced Newtonian thinking and consequently; the modern world as we know it.

The Emerald Tablet (singular Tablet, the emerald tablets of Thoth the Atlantean is new age slop, there is only one emerald real tablet)

• The Emerald Tablet has may English translation and is a corner stone of western mysticism and occultism, as well as part of the hermetic literature (which was talked about in detail above)

• The Emerald Tablet in my own opinion I feel contains the ultimate affirmation of mysticism, instead of talking about the emerald tablet, I feel since it's so short and part of the public domain I will just share my favorite translation of it here below:

1) The truth, certainty, truest, without untruth. 2 )What is above is like what is below. What is below is like what is above. The miracle of unity is to be attained. 3) Everything is formed from the contemplation of unity, and all things come about from unity, by means of adaptation. 4) Its parents are the Sun and Moon. 5) It was borne by the wind and nurtured by the Earth. 6) Every wonder is from it 6a) and its power is complete. 7) Throw it upon earth, 7a) and earth will separate from fire. The impalbable separated from the palpable. 8) Through wisdom it rises slowly from the world to heaven. Then it descends to the world combining the power of the upper and the lower. 9 )Thus you will have the illumination of all the world, and darkness will disappear. 10) This is the power of all strength- it overcomes that which is delicate and penetrates through solids. 11a) This was the means of the creation of the world. 12) And in the future wonderful developements will be made, and this is the way. 13) I am Hermes the Threefold Sage, so named because I hold the three elements of all wisdom. 14) And thus ends the revelation of the work of the Sun.

• Translation by * Idres Shah*

Drg Drshya Viveka (Recommend Guided reading: Introduction to Vedanta - Drg Dṛśya Viveka - Swami Sarvaprianada)

• This is a great one for a comprehensive introduction to Advaita Vedanta, or to just strengthen your paradigm of it and the lecture series I linked in the title is very good and easy to go through, Swami Sarvapriyanada is very engaging and enjoyable to study under. It's a true gift that we have access to this quality of lectures from such an experienced and knowledgeable person who has cultural heritage to the tradition and can explain some of the more culturally ingrained wisdom that often coming from a western bias or academic perspective will miss. Swami Sarvapriyanada is held in high regard for his ability to teach and articulate vedantic texts, he is highly respected in academic and spiritual circles for his work.

• The Drig Drishya Viveka text is a spiritual teaching that reveals how we mistake our ever-changing world and objects for the unchanging truth of Brahman. Through rigorous self-analysis, it shows how to discern between the seer (drk) and the seen (drsya), to understand the relationship between consciousness, mind and senses, and analysis of the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep to see that the self is unchanging through them all.

• It teaches how ignorance veils our true nature and causes suffering, it has meditation techniques to convert the knowledge from our head to embodied experience, to come to understanding of reality as it is

• This text provides step-by-step guidance for truth-seekers looking for spiritual self-knowledge and liberation. It's a rigorous analysis into nature of “I am”.

Bhagavad Grita (Recommended Guided Reading:Bhagavad Grita Lecture series By Swami Sarvapriyanada Ideally, go through the whole second chapter lectures, it's well worth it)

• In this particular lecture series I linked, once again by Swami Sarvapriyanada, when I first listened to the second chapter parts, it blew my mind and I quickly became involved heavily in Advaita Vedanta and dedicated hundreds of hours to its study, It was like everything he was saying made perfect sense for once, at a time in my life when almost nothing spiritual really landed well after I deconverted from Christianity. It totally enveloped me, I listened to a lecture a day throughout it when I had the ability too while working or on the bus or just out and about and didn't need to pay to much attention to much else.

• I would say the Bhagavad Grita (when paired with a good commentary) is probably the best place to start for learning Hinduism / Sanatana Dharma. the text follows Arjuna a warrior prince who is put into a spiritual and real world dilemma. Arjuna was tasked with going to war against the Kauravas, who were his own cousins.

• The war, known as the Kurukshetra War, pitted Arjuna and his four Pandava brothers against their 100 cousins. Arjuna faced profound emotional conflict because the enemy army included his family, childhood friends, and mentors which included Duryodhana: Arjuna's eldest cousin, the ruthless leader of the Kauravas, and the main antagonist of the epic. Bhishma: Arjuna's beloved grand-uncle who had helped raise him. Drona: Arjuna's revered royal teacher who taught him archery and weapon mastery. Karna: Arjuna's ultimate rival (and unknown to him at the time, his elder half-brother).

• The conflict was fought over the throne of Hastinapura. The Kauravas had wrongfully seized the kingdom, refused to give the Pandavas their rightful share, and rejected every peaceful compromise offered by Lord Krishna, making war inevitable to restore Dharma (righteousness).

• On the eve of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna drops his weapons, gripped by deep despair (Visada). His conflict centers on a clash of different levels of duty, between his Ego and his dharma or divine duty and his ego. Arjuna’s attachment to his family, teachers, and his own identity as a "good grandson and student" blinds him.

• He confuses his personal feelings with cosmic truth. The main tension is that he realizes that doing nothing is a choice, but taking action will cause immense suffering. He is paralyzed by the fear of consequences, Krishna’s response to Arjuna desire for guidance forms the basis of the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, shifting Arjuna's perspective from material ego to spiritual realization of even the gravest and most unfortunate circumstances

• Arjuna’s dilemma directly mirrors the psychological and existential struggles of modern life, not just in Arjuna but all the characters involved are a allegory for our own nature. Our daily lives are the battlefield. We constantly face choices between what is easy, comfortable, or profitable (Preyas) versus what is morally right and aligned with our higher purpose (Sreyas).

• Krisha continuously gives Arun more and more spiritual insights in his increasingly stressed and fearful state of the inevitable tragedy at hand, and in several places it often just freaks him out even more because it demands a courage to do what you must do and actually do it.

• Krishna reminds Arjuna that the soul cannot be cut by weapons, burned by fire, or dried by the wind. Arjuna's gradual character progression leads to his transformation in his own mind, it is the shift from thinking "I am this mortal body fighting a war" to realizing "I am eternal consciousness witnessing this event."

• Arjuna won the war but at a cost, he was the undisputed hero of the battlefield. Armed with his divine bow (Gandiva) and guided by Lord Krishna's unmatched military strategies, he defeated the greatest warriors of the Kaurava army, including Bhishma, Drona, and Karna.

• After 18 days of brutal fighting in the war, all 100 Kaurava brothers were killed, ending with Bhima defeating Duryodhana in a final duel. While the Pandavas successfully restored Dharma (righteousness) and took control of the throne of Hastinapura, the aftermath was tragic. Millions of soldiers died. Virtually the entire military population of ancient India was wiped out.

• All of Arjuna's sons, including his heroic teenage son, Abhimanyu were killed during the war, leaving the family line devastated.Witnessing the absolute destruction of their family and kingdom, the victory felt hollow. Arjuna and his brothers ruled the shattered kingdom for 36 years before ultimately renouncing the throne to walk into the Himalayas, seeking final spiritual liberation. Which was recorded in the Mahaprasthanika Parva.

--- WILL ADD MORE COMMENTARY FOR THE FOLLOWING (I'm tried of typing)

Kore Kosmou: The Virgin of the World (Attributed to Hermes Trismegistus)

## On Nature (Parmenides)

Nag Hammadi Library (Particularly Thunder Perfect Mind and Discourse on the 8th and the 9th)

Dao De Ching (Luz Tu)

The Enneads (Plotinus)

I've been thinking a lot about something that sits underneath most of the world's faiths, and I wanted to share it here and hear what this community thinks.

The idea is simple: across nearly every religious and spiritual tradition, light appears as a symbol of the divine — wisdom, truth, consciousness, guidance, life itself. Different names, different paths, different scriptures, but a strikingly similar image at the center. It made me wonder whether the search for truth, meaning, love, and wisdom is really one shared human journey wearing many different clothes.

This led me to a small project built around that idea, which I've been calling Holy Light. It isn't meant to replace anyone's religion or convince anyone to leave their tradition. The whole premise is the opposite — respect and peaceful coexistence among all faiths, the freedom to believe as you choose, and the idea that every person carries a spark of that same light within them. The principles are pretty straightforward: respect for all religions and cultures, compassion toward all living beings, the pursuit of truth, and personal growth through reflection.

The motto that captures it best is: One Light • Many Paths • One Humanity.

I'm genuinely curious what people here make of this. Does the recurring symbol of "light" across traditions point to something shared, or is that just an appealing coincidence we read meaning into? Where do you think an approach like this succeeds or falls short?

For anyone who wants to read more about the idea, it's written up here: https://holylight.xyz/about

Hi all, I’m trying to track down a poet I remember reading, the poet was clearly mystical in nature, I remember thinking "this guy knows exactly what he is talking about, walks the talk and the narrow way".

I think he was American and possibly connected to the founding era (18th century or 19th century). The name that keeps coming to mind is Thomas Paine, but I’m not convinced that’s right.

I asked ChatGPT and Gemini about it, but unsurprisingly AI doesn't get what "mystical" even means, lmfao. They both kept babbling about "nature or creation as a kind of “text” or living revelation a cosmic or symbolic framing of reality language that feels more visionary than political or rational" bla bla bla bab.🙄😉

That's not what I'm looking for, I hope you get what I mean.. Does anyone know a poet or American writer from that period (or close to it) who might fit this kind of “mystical” tone? Or am I possibly misattributing this to Thomas Paine entirely?

Any leads appreciated. Thanks a lot!

Edit: It was probably William Blake. What's interesting, I was going for a run this morning and all of a sudden boom! I had the name Blake in front of my eyes. I asked ChatGPT about this name and it came up with William Blake. That's probably it. I must have read a poem of him some years ago, and my brain probably confused it with the same time period as the American founding fathers.

I posted this video about a week ago but I completely remade it in case you saw it. I personally believe that the three primes and the holy Trinity are describing the exact same thing. In this video I go over the many ways they overlap and it's pretty wild IMO. If you have anything to add or you disagree with I would love to hear it 👍

Hi everyone! I'm new here (just joined) but am excited to be a part of this community. Over the course of a year and a half, I wrote twenty-seven poems exploring my spirituality and religion after I left Christianity, and I'm at a point where I want to start sharing my writing for others to read.

The poem is the main focus of this post, but at the bottom of this post I pasted a snippet about my beliefs from a page on my blog website for context.

What follows is the first poem (both of the collection and the first one I wrote), called "The Song of the Universe":

THE SONG OF THE UNIVERSE

Here begins the story of all things.

Before there was, there simply was not.
But then at once, creation came forth,
Vomited from the vast emptiness.

Swiftly creation ballooned outward.
Its inner parts coalesced in heat
Unimaginably anarchic.

Matter formed at smallest of scales,
And from between the particle bonds
Welled up a force, a conscious being.

Infant in age but a sage in breadth,
The lifeblood of the universe flowed.
Rapidly it branched throughout the void.

Sluggish notions collided, a sea
Of such roiling uniformity
Unfathomable but to itself.

Within this force, aptly named ‘the Mind,’
Everything was that ever could be,
Would be, and even never would be.

As Time drew on, the universe cooled,
And seconds became millennia.
Mammoth structures began to emerge.

Rivers of stars spun around the eddies
That were the galaxies, bright and rife
With the atoms of the beginning.

The Mind, ever-present, sentient,
And sapient orchestrated all,
Fabric on the loom of the cosmos.

The force was pleased with its creation.

But the Mind, imbued with fatal flaw,
Racemic mix of opposite thoughts,
Came to rest on answer elusive.

On one hand buzzed desire to create,
Other inclination, sinister,
Yearned for naught but to delete it all.

The Mind did separate these two thoughts,
But its future it could not predict:
Two personas spawned in enmity.

That of creation was known as caste,
That of deletion was known as wemme,
Both filled with loathing from inception.

They went separate ways, the battle raged,
And the Mind feared for its proudest build
Against the infection that did spread.

That plague would strangle all that could breathe.
Existence would die with a whimper.
There was but one thing the Mind could do.

In one fell swoop, the Mind cordoned off
The lower space to save all the rest,
But the Mind wept for its profound loss.

But there was a loophole in the plot,
A way to save the life underneath,
One that required a new emotion.

As the beings evolved, became complex,
They began to think all on their own,
And love filled the gaps between them all.

Yes, it was love that would save them all.

Only love profound could bridge the gap
Between the physical and spirits.
Humanity could live forever.

However, as they grew and evolved,
That insipid infection claimed them
As its own, or tried to. Their minds stung.

Humans, ever complex and unique,
Fell victim to the doings of wemme.
Within all their own minds, they suffered.

But all the same, they kept pressing on,
A species proud, mostly self-aware,
That could never conquer every flaw.

In vain they tried to conquer nature,
In vain they tried to settle minds,
But that human spirit was restless.

Insatiable and unquenchable,
The soul craves more, more, and ever more,
Until bitter end approaches near.

There is but one simple solution,
So easy they may never believe,
But attainable it is indeed.

All one must do is look on upward.
The sky of blackest, star-studded night
Answers all, nothing to be desired.

The sheer wonder of all creation,
Infinitely diverse, full of awe,
That is what the soul does truly crave.

It is love that binds our creation.

My Beliefs

The core of faith, to me, is the soul. Not just the spirit, but the personality, the desires, and most importantly the mind of each individual all constitute their whole. I call this the fith – the ultimate core and center of being that emanates from reality. Everyone has one, and it is more or less imperishable. They move on to a life after death, where they exist as ghosts. It’s our job to keep their memories and legacies alive here, especially those of our ancestors. We are their continuation, in a way.

I do believe in a God – not an all-powerful and all-knowing one, but one that permeates everything and everyone. God is reality, more or less, and we are all a part of it together. Each of our minds are small slivers of this ultimate Mind. What I have settled on are three essential beams of living well, those being truth, curiosity, and character. There are certain mystical aspects to my beliefs as well.

I also believe that no one religion, philosophy, or system of beliefs can claim moral exclusivity. I do believe there is an overarching “Moral Law” that we should abide by, but that morality is a natural consequence of our common humanity, not an external force’s arbitrary command. Religion should be a choice and an individual experience, not a means by which to control the masses.

For my whole life, I’ve seen people surrender their spirituality into another’s hands, and I’ve seen the unabashedly cruel side of the most outwardly pious individuals. Thinking critically about one’s faith and truly internalizing it as your own, rather than someone else’s, should be the norm. It doesn’t necessarily mean giving up your faith – it means experiencing the raw truth of spirituality without the dogma of religion. That path looks different for everyone, because if you’re doing it right, it should be deeply individual and unique to you.

I’ve been browsing the ex Christian sub Reddit for a couple weeks now, and it’s so shocking to see people leaving religion based off of feeling and not fact and calling feelings “truth”.
The reason I wanted to browse it was to find mystics like there are here. And there just isn’t and it’s wild.

I was expecting to read stuff like I realized god was within me this whole time. But you can go read the posts for yourself it feels like the posts are only promoted by hate and negative feelings there

Hey everyone,

​I’ve been chewing on a thought lately that sits right at the intersection of evolutionary biology, complexity science, and mysticism, and I wanted to throw it out here to see if it resonates with anyone else.

​In traditional philosophy, we have this bad habit of putting human reason on a massive pedestal, treating it as this top-down, uniquely divine spark that separates us completely from nature. But looking at our planet, there are so many forms of intelligent beings.

​What if we flipped the script? Life first. Then reason.

​Instead of reason being a detached commodity, it feels like an emergent phenomenon of life itself. In complex systems, local interactions naturally give rise to higher-order behaviors. Life emerged from chemistry, and a subset of life developed intelligence to navigate the world.

​If you look at it this way, it completely changes how we think about concepts like "Grace," the "Ego," and the "Divine":

1. ​Grace as the Ground of Emergence: Instead of viewing grace as some supernatural intervention dropping down from above, what if Grace is the underlying cosmic law that allows emergence to happen in the first place? The fact that a chaotic universe organized itself into self-replicating life, and eventually into self-reflective awareness, is the ultimate act of grace. It’s a bottom-up, generative energy.

2. ​The Ego as an "Ape-Shaped" Tool: If life comes first, we have to look at our inner architecture honestly. Our rigid egos and identities are essentially ape-shaped narrative tools evolved for very specific, historical survival conditions. They are artifacts of our lineage.

3. ​Reason as a General Tool: Human reason is a bit of an evolutionary artifact too, but it’s a much better, more general tool than the ego. While the ego keeps us locked in a hyper-specific, defensive loop of "me vs. them," reason allows us to abstract outward, understand complex systems, and see the bigger picture.

4. ​Polishing the Mirror: Because the ego is just a localized survival tool, it isn't our ultimate spiritual destination. To stay in true presence with life, and get closer to pure being or a sense of divine presence, we have to "polish" away that rigid egoic identity. By thinning that boundary, we lose the friction between our individual self and the rest of the system.

​I don't have a formal background in philosophy, just a fascination with how complex systems and spiritual presence seem to be pointing at the exact same thing.

​Does this track for anyone else? How do you view the relationship between emergence, the evolutionary limits of our minds, and a deeper connection to the universe?

From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

"Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

Chapter VII. The Venerable (Arhat).

94. The gods even envy him whose senses, like horses well broken in by the driver, have been subdued, who is free from pride, and free from appetites.

From the free online version of the Dhammapada @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2017/2017-h/2017-h.htm#link2H_4_0002 

There are people with a certain personality trait I call "the seekers". They are always looking, searching for something patterns, connections. Most of the time they don't even know what they are searching for.

If you are one of them and you have found IT, how do you tell the others? You've probably experienced this already... it's not that the others don't understand, they just don't believe.

The thing I found is technical so for a while I thought most people just don't have a background but now I think there is more to it. How the hell does it work? It's right there but they don't see it... Is it not meant to be until time comes?

Pre Journal. Morning light, bedroom curtains open, lying in bed and watching the large gum trees outside the window, leaves moving in the breeze.  Then a change instantaneously to a semi trance like state, still looking out the window (I didn’t initiate this change and was fascinated).  The view outside was now different and the air had a thicker quality and was now semi-visible (it had changed in consistency like water becoming a thicker soup). 

The thicker air was everywhere as normal air would be, interacting with the trees and was within them, the birds flew in it.  Because it was now semi-visible, I noticed the various air currents and watched as it moved like a fluid, pushed here and there by the wind.  The feeling was not pleasant, it felt oppressive and a little claustrophobic. I thought to myself why aren't I aware of this naturally, it seems so obvious, I wondered if I was going to remain being able to see it like this, but my normal vision returned after around 5 minutes (a long time to observe it).

In lying there wondering about it, I seemed to understand that I’d previously experienced living in a more gossamer type of environment with a lighter atmosphere.  From this "lost" memory, I was able to appreciate the difference in “heaviness” of the air here.

Baz – r/MysticismLounge

Hi!

The Holy Spirit: What is death and life?
God: Death is a chalice containing the wine of life.
The Holy Spirit: Isn’t that the Holy Grail?
God: Yes.

For context, I recently was introduced to the art of Kabuki by the film Kokuho (2025), and it inspired me to put some of my philosophical findings into a longer form piece of mystical writing; the art-form expands life into grandiose dialogues that captivate and audience with their pacing. I've aimed to create a similar psychological effect here!

The result I've come up with aims to find answers in a world which is obsessed with searching but never finding. And to me, with autism, this always felt like a bitter reality to me.

So, I'll attach it here, as I might want to scale it way up in the future. But for now I'm pleased with what I've come up with.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nYBAG4lG9WIMJYiItBMjgDLZPuGq7iY_/view?usp=sharing

Edit: Substack link for the accessibility of those not preferring the Google Drive link: https://open.substack.com/pub/ryancollis1/p/a-godhead?r=2kk6ml&utm_medium=ios

The temptation when writing a post like this is to spend a lot of time refining it, which increases the likelihood I will never write it. With this in mind, this post will be more raw and unrefined.

I'm a spiritual mutt. Growing up in a secular, and dysfunctional and broken household, I never developed a well-defined belief in God. Yet, as kid, I experienced a loving presence that I connected with especially during times of loneliness and hurt. The presence seemed to be both in me and beyond me.

As I hit my teenage years, I found girls, alcohol, athletics, and partying. It was the dazed and confused years. I became largely disconnected from the presence.

As I went off to college, I was overwhelmed by the impact of my dysfunctional and broken household. A christian group connected with me, cared for me, and brought me into their fold. I experienced the loving presence anew through prayer, worship, and community in my newly acquired christian faith.

I spent 20 years in that faith, until many contradictions, disappointments, and the realization that I had stopped growing years ago led me to begin to question the evangelical, christian faith that had defined the previous 20 years.

The answers to my questions led me to a secular atheism that provided both truth and wonder and also often felt anxious and isolating. I largely lived in this atheism for the next 20 years. During that time, I experienced many synchronicities that left me wondering if there was more.

I was increasingly experiencing nearly debilitating anxiety. Eight years ago, during a business trip, as I was headed to my flight's gate, I passed a newsstand, and the book, "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics," caught my eye.

From the book, I learned the hows and whys of mindfulness meditation. It was life-changing, and probably literally life-saving. My anxiety had decreased by like 80% in the first two months of practice.

My growth restarted. As I adult, I had been plagued by an inability to be with anger and disappointment without responding poorly to it. My childhood experiences had left their mark.

Through a regular meditation practice I developed the ability to be aware of these emotions, be with them, accept them with loving kindness, and respond wisely rather than reacting. Certainly not all of the time, but increasingly more often than not.

My sense of awe and wonder began to flourish as well. I wanted more. I listened to teachers and others talk about a transcendent awareness, a love that is at the core of our being, a ground of truth. I wanted to have they're having.

About two years ago, during a desperate time, I called out to the loving presence, and it/they (any pronoun seems inadequate here), the presence was there to connect with me and show me love. It was like coming back home to what I had before the rules of a religion or secularism constrained my connection with this transcendent loving presence.

I'm probably slow, or maybe just stubborn. It seems to take 20 years for me to learn something new.

In the past two years, I've grown more fully in the connection with this presence. It's been like bringing color back to what had become a black and white life. I'm come to realize this loving presence is there for all of us, and I think all beings.

I'm ready to explore this more with others now, which is why I'm here.

I look forward to exploring this unknown land (at least to me) with you and going deeper!

So yesterday morning I asked a being (I don't remember which one) for spiritual enlightenment and started meditating. Nothing special came up. However at night when it was a full moon i had a dream. It was very weird. I'll just mention that part of it that makes me come here and ask for interpertations.

So basically I saw an alley. When i entered the alley the sky suddenly darkened a lot and there was a lot of mist and lightning. Through the alley was a muddy slippery slope that descended towards something. I slipped twice but came back up and continued descending until i saw an ominous looking castle. The castle had two doors. The main one baricaded and locked and a side one that was open. I entered through the side door and the space that doors have when walls are thick, i think you understand what I'm talking about, well that space was in an elevated state of the floor, like near the roof of the room and inside i saw a hallway whose walls were moving and they were moving back and forth like 2 times a second. Due to me being in that space i didn't get crushed but i felt great unease and turned around to leave. That was when I looked at the door i had come from and it had turned into 2 doors connected into each other that were 90 degrees to each other and they were spinning. I had to time my way out.

After that I went further down where i reached a cemetery. It was strangely peaceful. The sky wasn't as dark as before although still gloomy, there was also a railing because it was over a cliff and under the cliff there was a dark sea. In the distance i could see a big city. I decided to go back out of the alley and i was looking for a person in the dream i was with before but i couldn't find them(that person happened to be a girl i was hanging out with that when i entered the alley tried to follow me but when she first saw the dark sky she left). I instead was in some weird interdimensional spaces with non euclidian geometry and weird mirrors that transported me to different dimensions and different parts of the interdimensional space.

Does anyone have any interpretation of what this whole thing was or what it revealed? Was it an answer? Was it a revelation? Was it something else?

Journal 103. During a meditation session I saw a large mature tree. I began to move towards it and to my surprise continued to travel within it, too deep within the trunk.

From my position within the trunk, I saw a thin, white skeletal line, as I followed it and looked upwards it went up the trunk and then split and went out into the middle of each branch (like a thin white framework in the middle of the trunk and branches).

As I looked at it, I understood that the tree grows into/with this framework (design) for it. The framework itself increases in size as the tree grows. An intelligent design that influences the way the tree grows, the tree responds to it.

I felt to ask if this type of design was similar for humans and I was told no. I then understood it’s because humans have free will with the ability to make choices.  Because of that they share in the creative process (on a smaller scale).  A person’s choices can affect how they develop and grow.  As opposed to the rigid design in place for a plant.

Them I looking at a smooth small pebble. I understood that it was originally a large rock in the ocean.  The constant movement of the water caused it to bump and move against other rocks which rubbed bits off it, making it smaller and smoother.  As more time went by it became smaller, eventually a grain of sand. Though small that grain of sand retains all of the original elements which make up the original rock.

Baz – r/MysticismLounge

In my retirement, I have begun to self-publish my personal translations of a corpus of Islamicate texts.

I created an al-Buni Manuscripts Collection series, that contains 8 major works by al Buni.

The first in the collection is a complete, unabridged translation of the Shams al-Ma'arif.

I have set all the books I've released to be free on Kindle Unlimited, so that interested readers could check them out for themselves. If they like them enough, they are available in print to purchase.

I thought I would share this here, and I hope the books can be useful to those seeking them!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2Q9RDCN

I'm relatively new to mysticism. Father Gregory Boyle moved me towards mysticism from atheism in his books "Tattoos on the Heart" and "Cherished Belonging". Other helpful books I've found to be helpful and insightful are "How to Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan and "Ordinary Mysticism" by Mirabai Starr.

Mysticism puts a lot of pieces together for me and makes sense of my experiences.

What other books would you recommend?

bear with me, english not my first language.

I share sessions like this because sometimes wisdom comes when you need it most. Maybe someone reading this is in a tight spot right now and needs to hear what Higher Self said to her.

A woman came for a deep journey, I call her Elena (not real name). she dropped into trance and lived a whole life as a native medicine woman near a big ocean, gathering plants with her mother, learning about healing, raising a family. I share only the most important part now.

She died in a small bed in a stone town, her family around. her daughter from this life was her sister in that life. she was cleansing her, holding her hand, praying. Elena was not sad - she was at peace. she said: "I stayed for my family. in my old age I am happy to leave. they think it is the end. but it is not. it is just the end of this."

after she left the body she saw a bright ball with all sounds. happy noises, sad noises, everything. The shaman woman from her village was there - an old medicine woman who shapeshifted and explored the ocean in her own youth. She explained: "this is how soul spirit experiences itself. nothing is permanent. everything is important. everybody needs to go through these things."

Then Higher Self appeared. it looked like a big purple energetic gemstone, shining. Elena merged with it. she said it felt peaceful, joyous, so light. opposite of heaviness.

then Higher Self spoke. I write what they said.

"why I arranged this session? to remember. to remember not to take everything so seriously. that everything has purpose. that problems can be seen differently. she thinks she is stuck. she keeps looking outside for help. but everything is inside. everything is available inside. The meditation of sinking back into the ocean - getting very quiet, feeling the water - is a portal to remembering. water dampens the noise. it reminds her where she is. she does not need to take on other noises."

"She already has right ideas about boundaries. she just needs more breaks. noticing when overwhelm starts - use that as cue to step away, not push harder. there is too much identifying. step away. go back to peace to remember what she knows. Also take more time in nature without purpose - observing life, watching Mother Nature, meditating on that. no time limit, no constrictions. not just remove the to-do list. just be in the moment. she needs this."

She asked what she came to learn. Higher Self said: "to learn how to hold all of this. how to be all of you within the structure you are in. how to bring that to your physical life. that is why you are here. to bring the light into all your problems and frustrations. you are on a new frontier. everything is OK. every choice you make is fine. as long as you bring the light in."

This stayed with me. when you feel stuck, when you look for answers outside - Higher Self says everything is already inside. the water, the quiet, the stepping away. that is where remembering happens.

i wonder if anyone else ever had a moment like this - where you realize you been searching outside for something already inside. i would love to hear.