Spiritual Questions Galore

Last night I had an interesting discussion with the Vipassana group in Northampton, and it actually continued in my dreams. I literally had to summarize the discussion of some Buddhist quotes, in my morning hypnogogia.

To use technology, or not? What is technology? Are practices technologies? What if I sit on the cushion for 40 years and never get anywhere? How do we silence the habitual thought patterns that come up? How do they fall away on their own? What use is technology or practices, in stilling the mind?

What are stories? Can we replace the repetitive stories created by traumas, with consciously chosen stories that lead to empowerment?

What does life post-enlightenment look like? Are there still stories?

What is magick? Why are Buddhists against magick, technology, and other practices? How does Kundalini Yoga relate to mindfulness meditation and Vipassana? Why does it seem that there aren't very many Kundalini activated people practicing Vipassana?

Why do monks shave their heads and Kundalini Yogis grow it long? Are monks resisting being full present, in this world, without their hair? Is cutting your hair unnatural?

Vipassana seems dogmatic and fundamentalist. Is it even healthy to sit for 12 hours a day, for weeks on end, without physical movement except a light walk? What's up with the cooked dairy?


For realz, Kundalini Yogis and Vipassana meditators absolutely need to quit the cooked dairy. They both need to eat fewer cooked carbs, and more raw greens and superfoods.

It just strikes me that Vipassana meditating for 45 days, as they offer, or even 10 days, 12 hours a day, is just not a healthy lifestyle! And not so sustainable. To be fair, they did say that certain yoga was compatible with Vipassana, but that since they didn't have the proper facilities, I couldn't so much as stretch my arms. No chanting either.

Also to be fair, not all Buddhists are into Vipassana. Tons of Buddhists chant, obviously, and, I guess, have official movement practices. Some even sit under cold waterfalls like the yogis.


Ok, now to the more interesting questions. Stories. Technology. What I think, is that technologies and practices, (practices are technologies) can be (ought to be) utilized for changing our brains. For changing our sense of self, identity, genetic code, entire being, etc. The other side, from the Vipassana (or Zen) types, is the strategy of going directly to the thing, on your own. Sit silently, practice letting go of cravings and aversions, and maybe, poof, enlightenment just happens on its own.

Then there's this shamanic current, what I think is maybe post enlightenment. It says, yes the state of oneness, beyond separate self, is great, and I go there all the time, with trance practices -- and what is meditation but inhibitory trance (as opposed to excitory trance).

The the shamans have a lot to say about stories. The world is made of stories, of songs. You can shift and chose the stories that orient your being. In this Now, the past and future are malleable, because they only exist in the present, because they are your perception. So, techniques like hypnosis, trance, etc. can be used to rewire the brain, shift stories from disempowering to empowering. Shift them from ones of trauma, to ones of discovering magick!

It seems Buddhists are afraid of magick, of actively rewiring themselves, and of entering into dialogues with the universe, and consciously creating. You go up the mountain, sit in the cave, find yourself, then come back to the community, and what do you offer? Sounds like a hero's journey. What does the hero offer? The hero comes back with gifts, with magickal powers, from the unconscious. The hero's journey takes one to the unconscious and facilitates the integration with lost parts of the self. It's a process of remembering.

Sit, realize enlightenment, realize that reality is code and you are a conscious creator, then come back and teach it. Show people the magick. Hold ceremonies, where your recovered gifts are used for healings, that allow other people to discover their own gifts.

Let's be clear. Mindfulness and silent meditation have tremendous benefits, and are powerful practices that ought to be utilized by everyone, even shamans. However, there are also a million other trance practices and technologies, that dedicated meditators would do well to test out.

We're entering amazing new worlds. There is a global shift in cosnciousness taking place. People are realizing themselves to be conscious creators and magickal beings. It's becoming easier and easier for people to enter enlightened states, access higher vibrational downloads, and ground them back in the 3d linear timeline. What's important, is to develop stable stages of development, ala Ken Wilber. You can have an experience of enlightenment, of awakening, but still be at a mythic level of development.

The world is wide open. New spiritual technologies and reinvented esoteric practices, are dazzling. Humans are waking up to their divinity. Being, God, is waking up to itself, as light, as consciousness, as creation, through the human being.