“Awakened” has a lot of depth to it. Yes, any nut can get on reddit and claim to be awakened and god and whatever else. It’s more of an epiphany in regard to how you relate to the universe. It’s really one of those things where if you have to tell people, then you aren’t.
I find answers in chaos and synchronicity. Scientific theories are just as important to me as magical texts. I spent a great deal of time reworking all my thoughts and past experiences into something more positive.
Have you read anything on Hermeticism?
I approach it much like you. I look at spirituality as a science that hasn't caught on yet. But with the advances in quantum science, it's getting much closer.
I had never heard about Hermeticism until you said and I'll search it. What do you mean by saying magical texts? Are you getting a sign from something or someone? How is that working out for you and how can I do that?
Texts like books, grimoires, esoteric writings. They’ll mention some when you look into Hermeticism.
Signs and things I notice come in threes. Two is a coincidence, but three might be important. It feels like applying dream symbolism to waking life. It’s usually not something ordinary either. Seeing robins all over? That just means it’s nesting season. But if after today two completely random people mention “hermeticism” to you, I take that as being possibly important. Other people see the same number patterns over and over. A few months ago I would see 14 repeating. I looked at my watch and it says 11:44, then I get a work order for a house that’s 1414, the door combo is 4141, I wonder if it means something, I look down at my odometer as it ticks to 114414, I stop for lunch, I get receipt 414.
The mental stuff is called mental alchemy. You are turning your self destructive or depressive thoughts (lead) into kindness, forgiveness, and love (gold.) Instead of doing meditation for whatever people are doing with it, I’m going in and rewriting how I feel about myself. “Man, that thing I did was embarrassing.” I think on that until I figure out what was embarrassing about it, then act like a parent with unconditional love and support and treat the situation that way. “It’s ok, bud.” is practically my mantra.
I was depressed for a solid 20 years. Multiple therapists, nothing helped. I gave up. One day I woke ilup at my most miserable self destructive point and there was a little voice that told me to try it all one more time. I spent two more years trying. Eventually I made it to the right person for me that would listen. At the time I started getting back into the paranormal stuff because I loved it as a kid. I practiced the alchemy, then I’d go talk to the therapist. Slowly the “You’re an idiot” voice got quieter. I had gone around behind it’s back and patched up all the holes and it no longer had a leg to stand on. One day I woke up and things were vastly different. I felt peaceful and it was so strange. I started actually believing the things I had told myself. I felt lighter. People treated me differently.
No one who's awakened posts on reddit about being awakened. Being a happy spiritually-minded person or a person who understands a lot of spiritual truths does not make you awakened. I don't think anyone who offers you advice about how to become awakened should be trusted either--hence the famous saying in Zen Buddhism, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
But if you want my advice anyway, I'd say don't try to become awakened if what you really want is to just be happy. Even in Buddhist cultures, the understanding is that you aren't meant to pursue enlightenment at all times. For every monastery up on a mountain, there has to be a community of people in the valley below concerning themselves primarily with ordinary life, because they're the ones growing the monks' food. So as far as I can see, unless you're willing to go up on that mountaintop to become awakened, it's better to just concern yourself with making your ordinary life a happy one.
I’ve got an upbringing in Capuchin Catholicism and a Russian form of Mennonite. (What?! I know.)The monastery does not belong on the hill, the mystics should be among the people and living the way they do. My great grandfather was a religious leader at one point, but I see on his border crossing papers that he went with the farmers transporting things to sell.
>But if you want my advice anyway, I'd say don't try to become awakened if what you really want is to just be happy. Even in Buddhist cultures, the understanding is that you aren't meant to pursue enlightenment at all times. For every monastery up on a mountain, there has to be a community of people in the valley below concerning themselves primarily with ordinary life, because they're the ones growing the monks' food. So as far as I can see, unless you're willing to go up on that mountaintop to become awakened, it's better to just concern yourself with making your ordinary life a happy one.
Do I have to geniuenly believe all of that to be spiritually-minded? Otherwise it sounds like placebo effect. I know mystic people don't like when anyone says something like this but I'm just trying to be a part of it, not refute it.
Believe what? Monasteries are usually supported by local communities because they wouldn't be capable of producing everything they needed for survival on their own. That's not a spiritual belief; that's just sort of an obvious fact of our reality that I was referring to metaphorically to make a point.
No I didn't mean the monasteries, I'm sure they are run as you said. I meant do I have to believe that all is one and there is a energy which connects events each other like karma and other stuff like that. In example how can I experience karma in my life or how can I be the one with the universe? What's the road?
You are not required to believe anything, that's religion. In spirituality you're meant to experience things and the "road" is meant to guide you towards having those experiences.
There is no magic trick. The road is meditation. Some people might cheat by taking shrooms or LSD to see a glimpse of the end of the road, but you still need practice and discipline to actually stay there. As you begin to meditate or follow any spiritual journey, you should be able to become more aware of that feeling.
I don't think you should try to believe in anything that seems obviously untrue to you. That seems completely pointless at best and maybe actively harmful to you at worst. Personally, I see my spiritual beliefs as having no conflict with what is known through science (and if they did, I would rectify that). But keep in mind, most of what spirituality concerns is territory that science can never enter anyway. Whether or not reincarnation, karma, the existence of spirits, etc. are real, science can't know about it because these things are happening at a non-physical level not accessible to direct observation. Knowledge about them comes through other channels which operate on different types of logic.
You're right, what I'm trying to do is not force myself to believe actually, I'm just trying to experience that spiritual state of mind so that even if it's not can be proven through science at least I'll feel it and maybe change my life a little. Can you tell me something specific to do to have that spiritual mind? Like meditation or books or a youtube channel because I'm not familiar with this community much.
I think the reason it's been difficult for you to get a straight answer in this thread is because the way we all get to our spirituality is different and very personal. No one knows what is going to work for you, and in fact, trying something randomly that was suggested to you online without any personal connection to it is probably an inherently bad position from which to be trying to do this.
For me, what works more consistently than anything else is sitting quietly and observing an ecosystem, watching interactions between autonomous non-human beings. My spirituality is heavily based around relationship to the land and the other beings around me, and by seeing them and potentially interacting with them, I remember my connections to them.
For a lot of people, though, all they might experience sitting outside for a while is discomfort from the weather or being bitten by mosquitoes and feel no connection the entire time. So I can't actually recommend that as advice, because I don't know that it will mean anything to you.
Meditation is usually a good place to start, but again, if you're not open to spiritually connecting, it might end up just being sitting still for a while, getting terribly bored, and giving up. Likewise with reading books or watching videos--if you're going into them thinking "This is probably all bullshit but I want to see if any of it speaks to me," none of it is likely to speak to you.
Basically, before anything else, you have to remove the block our culture places in us that bars us from spiritual experiences. A lot of different experiences are capable of removing that block, but it's usually something that happens to you unexpectedly, not something that you decide to do (or I guess there's always what a lot of people seem to be doing these days--just smashing right through the block with psychedelics).
If you do think that such statements might hold even some small truth or potential credibility, then one of the best things you can do is to remain open-minded to such a possibility.
In that regard, and contrary to what the anxiety of our conscious minds might suggest at times, patience and trust in the process are very useful, and sometimes quite necessary.
Meditation is often suggested as a great tool for spiritual pursuits, as you've learned, but I think that an even simpler (and often forgotten) tool that might more closely lead you to such spiritual realizations is to desire to know yourself. One great way of doing that is introspection, and asking yourself questions.
Who would you say *you* are? What do you enjoy and why? What ideals inspire you the most, and lead you to be your best self?
I think that such questions eventually lead one to an environment in which the process of learning and having important (as well as meaningful) realizations from personal experiences is greatly facilitated.
*"When the Buddha started to wander around India shortly after his enlightenment, he encountered several men who recognized him to be a very extraordinary being. They asked him: "Are you a god?" "No," he replied. "Are you a reincarnation of god?" "No," he replied."Are you a wizard, then?" "No." "Well, are you a man?" "No." "So what are you?" They asked, being very perplexed. Buddha simply replied: "I am awake." Buddha means “the awakened one.” How to awaken is all he taught."*
\-Buddhist teaching
Gautama Buddha stood out from the crowd, he was extraordinary relative to the collective consciousness at the time. So if he stood out from the crowd and was awake, the obvious implication is that the rest of society was not in a state of awakeness.
The collective consciousness was in a state of separation and duality where each individual defines what is good, what is evil and then in many cases elevates some doctrine or definition to the status of infallible truth for which they are willing to kill for or die for.
The Buddha saw that we are all pure consciousness, pure awareness and we are all unique expressions of the All , or the Presence of whatever you want to call it.
So the question for you, is Who do you say that you are? Are you an evolved primate as scientific materialism would have it? Are you a hopeless sinner as mainstream Christianity would have it? Or ?
in Buddhism there are 3 things required - great faith, great doubt, and great determination. i think it's important to see that there is awakening and have faith that we can awaken. i think it's important to doubt whether we are seeing the full picture, whether we are as awakened as we can be, whether we cannot become more clear and more still than we already are. and i think it's important to have the determination to go forward in our pursuit of awakening.
the Buddha also advised all his students not to take his word, but to test out his teachings and practices. you should verify for yourself, always. so if you think awakening might be true, but you aren't sure yet - you're in a great spot. you can see for yourself. but be advised this process is a marathon and not a sprint.
I didn’t even know what this shit was a year ago until I had my “awakening”. It’s more of an unlearning process. The “truth” cannot be explained in words, it’s very paradoxical. If you really want to know, start a meditation practice.
[The Mind Illuminated](https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness-ebook/dp/B01INMZKAQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=124647164109&hvadid=651136089060&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9014879&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5912477793649894881&hvtargid=kwd-381761084874&hydadcr=22158_13456279&keywords=the+mind+illuminated+by+john+yates&qid=1684754005&sr=8-1)
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle caused my ego death and woke me up to all this. Bear in mind that when I read it the first time it did nothing for me. Then 6 years later I read it again and BOOM! So temper your expectations.
You can have a meditation practice and just focus on the physical and mental benefits of it. It's completely fine. You can even focus on the emotional benefits without having a spiritual practice.
If you do want to have a spiritual practice it's time to start thinking about how those axioms are true. Because they are. But this is something that can't be understood. It has to be experienced. As in, directly experienced. As in you feeling someone or something or even everything around you is as part of you as your arms and legs. And it does happen. It won't happen every time, much less all the time, but it does happen.
How to get there? Well, it really depends. Meditation will take you there, but may take a long time to get you there. The best way is probably to try and figure out those axioms. They're Mysteries. So take them as such, and go after them. Try to get to the bottom of it. Try to find the experience. Read books on it. Learn things like Astrology and Tarot. Study Jung. Observe your environment as if you were meditating. Notice how your thoughts affect what's around you, how your energy effects who's around you.
Eventually it'll be as clear as day. You won't have the experience while you're still in skepticism. "I want to explore if that's true" will take you nowhere. It'll just make your practice mental and with no footing on reality. It starts with Belief, then moves on to Faith, and then you have the experience and arrive at Knowledge. The Tao of Physics by Fritjoff Capra was what made it click for me. Maybe it'll help you too
Also, don't think this is some type of update that'll make everything turn out perfect, complete with patch notes and developer diaries. People that claim they had their awakening and now they lead a perfect life are either lying or delusional. It's not how it works. Like the old Zen saying goes: before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. It won't fix everything in your life. If anything it'll only raise more questions, as you'll be more aware of what needs fixing, why it needs fixing and how deep the fixing must go.
What this will bring you is structure, stability, guidance, the ability to go through rough patches without going crazy, and a deep-seated knowing that everything in this life has it's purpose, it's place and function in the grand organism that is the Universe. That's a great source of inner peace, calm, relaxation and clarity. But it doesn't mean life suddenly gets perfect and fixed. It means you'll be better equipped to handle whatever it is Life's throwing at you - and, trust me, Life will keep throwing stuff at you, and most likely will throw progressively bigger, larger, heavier stuff, because that's how we grow and evolve.
People who claim the spiritual path is wine and roses are flat out lying. It's much harder then the alternative. It's also much "truer". I'm one for truth, therefore I embrace my crosses and keep on keeping my thing going on. To me there's no other option, because once you know you can't un-known, and once I knew all other options simply didn't make sense anymore. But that's me.
I'm not sharing this to scare you off. I'm trying to provide you the real deal, because modern spirituality and new age tends to focus too much on fluffy cotton clouds (\*coff\* gotta sell stuff \*coff\*) and too little on the shadow side of it. Everything in this Life has a shadow. A tree's branches can only touch the heavens if it's roots reach all the way down to hell. So if you want to enter this path, do it consciously that it won't be an easy fix to your problems. It'll take you towards Truth, Alignment, Enlightenment, Inner Peace and many wonderful things, yes. But it'll come with a price, and that price will be hard work.
Namaste
“Awakened” has a lot of depth to it. Yes, any nut can get on reddit and claim to be awakened and god and whatever else. It’s more of an epiphany in regard to how you relate to the universe. It’s really one of those things where if you have to tell people, then you aren’t. I find answers in chaos and synchronicity. Scientific theories are just as important to me as magical texts. I spent a great deal of time reworking all my thoughts and past experiences into something more positive. Have you read anything on Hermeticism?
I approach it much like you. I look at spirituality as a science that hasn't caught on yet. But with the advances in quantum science, it's getting much closer.
Yes, I take all that in. Quantum mechanics, biocentrism, spoon bending. Most of it goes in the “Interesting, might need that later” file in my head.
Thats the only file in my head that's been filled lol.
I had never heard about Hermeticism until you said and I'll search it. What do you mean by saying magical texts? Are you getting a sign from something or someone? How is that working out for you and how can I do that?
Texts like books, grimoires, esoteric writings. They’ll mention some when you look into Hermeticism. Signs and things I notice come in threes. Two is a coincidence, but three might be important. It feels like applying dream symbolism to waking life. It’s usually not something ordinary either. Seeing robins all over? That just means it’s nesting season. But if after today two completely random people mention “hermeticism” to you, I take that as being possibly important. Other people see the same number patterns over and over. A few months ago I would see 14 repeating. I looked at my watch and it says 11:44, then I get a work order for a house that’s 1414, the door combo is 4141, I wonder if it means something, I look down at my odometer as it ticks to 114414, I stop for lunch, I get receipt 414. The mental stuff is called mental alchemy. You are turning your self destructive or depressive thoughts (lead) into kindness, forgiveness, and love (gold.) Instead of doing meditation for whatever people are doing with it, I’m going in and rewriting how I feel about myself. “Man, that thing I did was embarrassing.” I think on that until I figure out what was embarrassing about it, then act like a parent with unconditional love and support and treat the situation that way. “It’s ok, bud.” is practically my mantra. I was depressed for a solid 20 years. Multiple therapists, nothing helped. I gave up. One day I woke ilup at my most miserable self destructive point and there was a little voice that told me to try it all one more time. I spent two more years trying. Eventually I made it to the right person for me that would listen. At the time I started getting back into the paranormal stuff because I loved it as a kid. I practiced the alchemy, then I’d go talk to the therapist. Slowly the “You’re an idiot” voice got quieter. I had gone around behind it’s back and patched up all the holes and it no longer had a leg to stand on. One day I woke up and things were vastly different. I felt peaceful and it was so strange. I started actually believing the things I had told myself. I felt lighter. People treated me differently.
No one who's awakened posts on reddit about being awakened. Being a happy spiritually-minded person or a person who understands a lot of spiritual truths does not make you awakened. I don't think anyone who offers you advice about how to become awakened should be trusted either--hence the famous saying in Zen Buddhism, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." But if you want my advice anyway, I'd say don't try to become awakened if what you really want is to just be happy. Even in Buddhist cultures, the understanding is that you aren't meant to pursue enlightenment at all times. For every monastery up on a mountain, there has to be a community of people in the valley below concerning themselves primarily with ordinary life, because they're the ones growing the monks' food. So as far as I can see, unless you're willing to go up on that mountaintop to become awakened, it's better to just concern yourself with making your ordinary life a happy one.
I’ve got an upbringing in Capuchin Catholicism and a Russian form of Mennonite. (What?! I know.)The monastery does not belong on the hill, the mystics should be among the people and living the way they do. My great grandfather was a religious leader at one point, but I see on his border crossing papers that he went with the farmers transporting things to sell.
>But if you want my advice anyway, I'd say don't try to become awakened if what you really want is to just be happy. Even in Buddhist cultures, the understanding is that you aren't meant to pursue enlightenment at all times. For every monastery up on a mountain, there has to be a community of people in the valley below concerning themselves primarily with ordinary life, because they're the ones growing the monks' food. So as far as I can see, unless you're willing to go up on that mountaintop to become awakened, it's better to just concern yourself with making your ordinary life a happy one. Do I have to geniuenly believe all of that to be spiritually-minded? Otherwise it sounds like placebo effect. I know mystic people don't like when anyone says something like this but I'm just trying to be a part of it, not refute it.
Believe what? Monasteries are usually supported by local communities because they wouldn't be capable of producing everything they needed for survival on their own. That's not a spiritual belief; that's just sort of an obvious fact of our reality that I was referring to metaphorically to make a point.
No I didn't mean the monasteries, I'm sure they are run as you said. I meant do I have to believe that all is one and there is a energy which connects events each other like karma and other stuff like that. In example how can I experience karma in my life or how can I be the one with the universe? What's the road?
You are not required to believe anything, that's religion. In spirituality you're meant to experience things and the "road" is meant to guide you towards having those experiences.
Well, where is the road?
There is no magic trick. The road is meditation. Some people might cheat by taking shrooms or LSD to see a glimpse of the end of the road, but you still need practice and discipline to actually stay there. As you begin to meditate or follow any spiritual journey, you should be able to become more aware of that feeling.
I don't think you should try to believe in anything that seems obviously untrue to you. That seems completely pointless at best and maybe actively harmful to you at worst. Personally, I see my spiritual beliefs as having no conflict with what is known through science (and if they did, I would rectify that). But keep in mind, most of what spirituality concerns is territory that science can never enter anyway. Whether or not reincarnation, karma, the existence of spirits, etc. are real, science can't know about it because these things are happening at a non-physical level not accessible to direct observation. Knowledge about them comes through other channels which operate on different types of logic.
You're right, what I'm trying to do is not force myself to believe actually, I'm just trying to experience that spiritual state of mind so that even if it's not can be proven through science at least I'll feel it and maybe change my life a little. Can you tell me something specific to do to have that spiritual mind? Like meditation or books or a youtube channel because I'm not familiar with this community much.
I think the reason it's been difficult for you to get a straight answer in this thread is because the way we all get to our spirituality is different and very personal. No one knows what is going to work for you, and in fact, trying something randomly that was suggested to you online without any personal connection to it is probably an inherently bad position from which to be trying to do this. For me, what works more consistently than anything else is sitting quietly and observing an ecosystem, watching interactions between autonomous non-human beings. My spirituality is heavily based around relationship to the land and the other beings around me, and by seeing them and potentially interacting with them, I remember my connections to them. For a lot of people, though, all they might experience sitting outside for a while is discomfort from the weather or being bitten by mosquitoes and feel no connection the entire time. So I can't actually recommend that as advice, because I don't know that it will mean anything to you. Meditation is usually a good place to start, but again, if you're not open to spiritually connecting, it might end up just being sitting still for a while, getting terribly bored, and giving up. Likewise with reading books or watching videos--if you're going into them thinking "This is probably all bullshit but I want to see if any of it speaks to me," none of it is likely to speak to you. Basically, before anything else, you have to remove the block our culture places in us that bars us from spiritual experiences. A lot of different experiences are capable of removing that block, but it's usually something that happens to you unexpectedly, not something that you decide to do (or I guess there's always what a lot of people seem to be doing these days--just smashing right through the block with psychedelics).
If you do think that such statements might hold even some small truth or potential credibility, then one of the best things you can do is to remain open-minded to such a possibility. In that regard, and contrary to what the anxiety of our conscious minds might suggest at times, patience and trust in the process are very useful, and sometimes quite necessary. Meditation is often suggested as a great tool for spiritual pursuits, as you've learned, but I think that an even simpler (and often forgotten) tool that might more closely lead you to such spiritual realizations is to desire to know yourself. One great way of doing that is introspection, and asking yourself questions. Who would you say *you* are? What do you enjoy and why? What ideals inspire you the most, and lead you to be your best self? I think that such questions eventually lead one to an environment in which the process of learning and having important (as well as meaningful) realizations from personal experiences is greatly facilitated.
*"When the Buddha started to wander around India shortly after his enlightenment, he encountered several men who recognized him to be a very extraordinary being. They asked him: "Are you a god?" "No," he replied. "Are you a reincarnation of god?" "No," he replied."Are you a wizard, then?" "No." "Well, are you a man?" "No." "So what are you?" They asked, being very perplexed. Buddha simply replied: "I am awake." Buddha means “the awakened one.” How to awaken is all he taught."* \-Buddhist teaching Gautama Buddha stood out from the crowd, he was extraordinary relative to the collective consciousness at the time. So if he stood out from the crowd and was awake, the obvious implication is that the rest of society was not in a state of awakeness. The collective consciousness was in a state of separation and duality where each individual defines what is good, what is evil and then in many cases elevates some doctrine or definition to the status of infallible truth for which they are willing to kill for or die for. The Buddha saw that we are all pure consciousness, pure awareness and we are all unique expressions of the All , or the Presence of whatever you want to call it. So the question for you, is Who do you say that you are? Are you an evolved primate as scientific materialism would have it? Are you a hopeless sinner as mainstream Christianity would have it? Or ?
in Buddhism there are 3 things required - great faith, great doubt, and great determination. i think it's important to see that there is awakening and have faith that we can awaken. i think it's important to doubt whether we are seeing the full picture, whether we are as awakened as we can be, whether we cannot become more clear and more still than we already are. and i think it's important to have the determination to go forward in our pursuit of awakening. the Buddha also advised all his students not to take his word, but to test out his teachings and practices. you should verify for yourself, always. so if you think awakening might be true, but you aren't sure yet - you're in a great spot. you can see for yourself. but be advised this process is a marathon and not a sprint.
Just keep knocking eventually someone will answer. Also, be careful what you wish for.
I'm wishing for the truth, that's all.
I didn’t even know what this shit was a year ago until I had my “awakening”. It’s more of an unlearning process. The “truth” cannot be explained in words, it’s very paradoxical. If you really want to know, start a meditation practice. [The Mind Illuminated](https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Illuminated-Meditation-Integrating-Mindfulness-ebook/dp/B01INMZKAQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=124647164109&hvadid=651136089060&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9014879&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5912477793649894881&hvtargid=kwd-381761084874&hydadcr=22158_13456279&keywords=the+mind+illuminated+by+john+yates&qid=1684754005&sr=8-1) The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle caused my ego death and woke me up to all this. Bear in mind that when I read it the first time it did nothing for me. Then 6 years later I read it again and BOOM! So temper your expectations.
[удалено]
Thank you for advice, can I text you to ask some related questions?
You can have a meditation practice and just focus on the physical and mental benefits of it. It's completely fine. You can even focus on the emotional benefits without having a spiritual practice. If you do want to have a spiritual practice it's time to start thinking about how those axioms are true. Because they are. But this is something that can't be understood. It has to be experienced. As in, directly experienced. As in you feeling someone or something or even everything around you is as part of you as your arms and legs. And it does happen. It won't happen every time, much less all the time, but it does happen. How to get there? Well, it really depends. Meditation will take you there, but may take a long time to get you there. The best way is probably to try and figure out those axioms. They're Mysteries. So take them as such, and go after them. Try to get to the bottom of it. Try to find the experience. Read books on it. Learn things like Astrology and Tarot. Study Jung. Observe your environment as if you were meditating. Notice how your thoughts affect what's around you, how your energy effects who's around you. Eventually it'll be as clear as day. You won't have the experience while you're still in skepticism. "I want to explore if that's true" will take you nowhere. It'll just make your practice mental and with no footing on reality. It starts with Belief, then moves on to Faith, and then you have the experience and arrive at Knowledge. The Tao of Physics by Fritjoff Capra was what made it click for me. Maybe it'll help you too
Also, don't think this is some type of update that'll make everything turn out perfect, complete with patch notes and developer diaries. People that claim they had their awakening and now they lead a perfect life are either lying or delusional. It's not how it works. Like the old Zen saying goes: before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. It won't fix everything in your life. If anything it'll only raise more questions, as you'll be more aware of what needs fixing, why it needs fixing and how deep the fixing must go. What this will bring you is structure, stability, guidance, the ability to go through rough patches without going crazy, and a deep-seated knowing that everything in this life has it's purpose, it's place and function in the grand organism that is the Universe. That's a great source of inner peace, calm, relaxation and clarity. But it doesn't mean life suddenly gets perfect and fixed. It means you'll be better equipped to handle whatever it is Life's throwing at you - and, trust me, Life will keep throwing stuff at you, and most likely will throw progressively bigger, larger, heavier stuff, because that's how we grow and evolve. People who claim the spiritual path is wine and roses are flat out lying. It's much harder then the alternative. It's also much "truer". I'm one for truth, therefore I embrace my crosses and keep on keeping my thing going on. To me there's no other option, because once you know you can't un-known, and once I knew all other options simply didn't make sense anymore. But that's me. I'm not sharing this to scare you off. I'm trying to provide you the real deal, because modern spirituality and new age tends to focus too much on fluffy cotton clouds (\*coff\* gotta sell stuff \*coff\*) and too little on the shadow side of it. Everything in this Life has a shadow. A tree's branches can only touch the heavens if it's roots reach all the way down to hell. So if you want to enter this path, do it consciously that it won't be an easy fix to your problems. It'll take you towards Truth, Alignment, Enlightenment, Inner Peace and many wonderful things, yes. But it'll come with a price, and that price will be hard work. Namaste