Counter-intuitive: Why "positive thinking" is terrible advice

Counter-intuitive: Why "positive thinking" is terrible advice

Why "positive thinking" won't help you out



When asked what he thinks of the "positive thinking" movement, Osho believes that it's doing more harm than good. Why? Because it means we're denying reality and being dishonest to ourselves:

"The philosophy of positive thinking means being untruthful; it means being dishonest. It means seeing a certain thing and yet denying what you have seen; it means deceiving yourself and others."

The negative is as much part of life as the positive. They balance each other.

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Every experience is valuable

1. You have nothing to fear
2. You cannot do anything wrong
3. You are always loved

We can choose not to respond

"As long as we move with the common herd, life is relatively easy, with its moderate ups and downs; but the moment we want to get out of the rut, a thousand forces rise up, suddenly very interested that we should behave “like everyone else,” then we realize how well organized the imprisonment is.

These adverse forces have been given all sorts of devilish and “negative“ names through the world’s spiritual history, as if their sole aim were to damn the seeker and give decent people a hard time.... In reality, as experience shows, these disturbing forces have their place in the universe; they are disturbing only at the scale of our constricted momentary consciousness, and for a specific purpose.

Firstly, they always catch us with our defenses down—yet were we firm and one-pointed, they could not shake us for a second. In addition, if we look into ourselves instead of whining and blaming the devil or the world’s wickedness, we find that each of these attacks has exposed one of our many virtuous pretenses, or, as Mother says, has pulled off the little coats we put on to avoid seeing."

- “Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness” by Satprem
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Reiki: Healing with the energy of life

Reiki is a traditional Japanese technique for healing, relaxation, and stress reduction. The healing energy of Reiki is transmitted through the palms of the hands. Some Reiki healers, then, practice the laying on of hands to transmit healing energy to others, while some healers practice a no-touch Reiki where the palms of the hands are held several inches from the body of the person receiving Reiki. Reiki is also a spiritual practice.

The concept behind Reiki posits that there is an invisible life force energy in the universe. It flows through all of us to varying degrees and is what causes us to be alive. If your life energy is low, you may feel sick, depressed, stressed, or anxious, whereas if your life energy is high, you are likely to feel healthy, happy, and energetic.

The word "Reiki" is made up from two Japanese words "Rei" and "Ki." "Rei" is often translated as "God's wisdom" or "the wisdom of a Higher Power," while "Ki" means "life force energy." Reiki, then, is life force energy that emanates from a higher power. Reiki, thus, is a practice that transmits energy that can be physically healing but also spiritually healing. Practicing or receiving Reiki can be a wonderful addition to anyone's spiritual practices, regardless of your religious beliefs.

Contemporary society is experiencing a ‘soul crisis’

We understand life through the stories we tell. Contemporary society is experiencing a ‘soul crisis’, because we have fallen under the spell of a particularly bleak story. The great religious myths that gave life meaning in the past have crumbled under skeptical scrutiny, so we’ve put our faith in science, which proclaims that we are living meaningless lives, in a universe that has evolved by chance, waiting for the finality of death.
In this presentation, based on his groundbreaking book Soul Story, philosopher Tim Freke offers an alternative to this pessimistic worldview. He will explore a new philosophy he calls 'Emergent Spirituality’, which reconciles modern scientific knowledge and perennial spiritual wisdom, by suggesting that everything is emerging into existence through the evolutionary process, including those qualities of life considered ‘spiritual’.

The Death Of A UFO Researcher Mental Illness Or Nefarious Circumstances

The Meaning of Life is to Find the Meaning of Life

“I have proposed the existence of an invisible permeating something, that is throughout all being, all time, all space, all bodies, all thoughts, which I call novelty. And the interesting thing about novelty is that it’s increasing, constantly. Science has not trumpeted this view, because science tends to look for principles which operate in definable domains. In other words the laws of chemistry, the laws of physics, the laws of gene segregation, the laws that describe the trajectories of artillery shells and falling bodies.

But, I submit to you that there is a overarching law which affects all reality and that you don’t need an atom smasher or extremely advanced mathematical methodologies to discern. It is self-evident in your own experience. And what it is, is that as we go back in time the universe if found to be a simpler place. If we go back a long ways in time, the universe is a very simple place. There are no cultures, there are no animals, there are no plants. Indeed if we go far enough back in time there are no stars and planets, the universe is simply a swarming ocean of energy.

But as we approach the present its as though the universe has undergone a series of crystallizations, out of itself of higher and higher forms of organization. And this is what I call novelty.”

~Terence McKenna

The Meaning of Life is to Find the Meaning of Life

From 1997 to 2001, host of the radio show Coast to Coast AM, Art Bell had a number of conversations with Terence McKenna. In one of these enlightening encounters, a caller asked McKenna what the meaning of life is. Here is his reply:

McKenna:

“You know in classical philosophy they said this is what classical philosophy is about. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? These are the three questions, everything arises from this. Each leads on to the other.

I’ve tried to look at the question, where did we come from and have proposed theories about it. By looking into my body, brain with drugs and meditation and just analytical thinking, I’ve tried to look at who are we, and then the great unanswered question is, where are we going. You know, what is to be the destiny of the human race? Are we an episode in the biology of this planet, or will we build an eden strung along the Milky Way? And from there to yet grander and greater things?

We don’t know how much intelligence there is in the universe, but we certainly know that something has broken out on this planet in our species that is like nothing else in the order of nature.”

Art Bell:

“What if we are nothing more than a virtual zip on the face of reality?”

McKenna:

“Well if by virtual you mean that we are inside some kind of artificial simulacrum, which is some software being run, well then the question is by who and to what ends?

I could accept that. My life is so much like a story, that I’m constantly asking the question, who writes this? Who writes this stuff? I mean, who thought me up? Who thought Art Bell up and put us talking like this front of twenty-two million people?

That doesn’t happen in reality, that kind of thing happens in art of the very finely honed source, and so I want to know, what is the medium and who is the artist, and who’s paying for this production?”

The spirit of the plant puts people in touch with their repressed pain and trauma...

Ayahuasca: The power of a plant from the Amazon and the respect it demands

The spirit of the plant puts people in touch with their repressed pain and trauma.

As a Western-trained doctor, I have long been aware of modern medicine's limitations in handling chronic conditions of mind and body. For all our achievements, there are ailments whose ravages we physicians can at best alleviate. In our narrow pursuit of cure, we fail to comprehend the essence of healing.

Thus the popularity of ayahuasca, the Amazonian plant medicine that many Westerners seek out for the healing of physical illness or mental anguish or for a sense of meaning amid the growing alienation in our culture.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/amazing-power-plant-amazon-and-respect-it-demands

An anthropologist's theory on shamanism and the origins of knowledge completely rewrites our understanding of dna

The shaman’s world is one of allegory, symbolism, metaphor and transcendence into the realms of energy and spirit. Their understanding of the universe and the abundant sentient beings which inhabit it is wildly foreign to the mind of the material scientist. Our best chance, therefore, at bridging the gap between science and spirit may lie in the anthropological study of those tribal cultures whose operating systems permit them to move freely in the metaphysical realms with the assistance of natural hallucinogenic substances.

The shamanic explanation of the origins of life and of the intelligent nature of the plants and animals which inhabit the rainforest are quite unbelievable to most, but a rational approach to understanding their perspective lends extraordinary insight into some of the greatest mysteries of human consciousness.

Author and anthropologist Jeremy Narby set out in the mid 1980’s to do just this, hoping to learn from medicine men of the Amazon jungle about how it is they claim to be able to communicate directly with plants and unseen spirit beings of the forest.

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The Last Shaman - Ayahuasca Journey

James is an all American boy whose promising life is brought to a halt by acute depression. Turning his back on the most progressive western treatments and medicines, James discovers ayahuasca in search of healing in the Peruvian jungle. Over the course of 10 months venturing from Shaman to Shaman, James finds friendship, answers and a kind of redemption hidden deep in the Peruvian amazon. watch the-last-shaman