Death is coming

The closer death creeps up upon me the less I am able to understand the reasons for life or living.

Yes I have experienced a close family member dying and unlike television it takes decades to handle such a thing. To think I am going to put my family through such a thing when I finally leave is more horrific to me than the thought of death itself.

My life was and is still a learning experience but when all said and done what am I to do with all this accumulated learning over my lifetime if I just die. There is no logic or reason to this.

Long ago I became aware that the God story that is sold to the majority is just a nice story to give mankind with a message of a basic layout of how nice life could be if everyone followed these ideas. Not many in life do and if one thinks about it the good and evil structures actually depend on each other. The good that can be experienced in life is only understood as good when there is it's opposite to compare it to. This is not rocket science only common sense in reality. I am not saying we need to experience bad but understanding in it is needed to appreciate the great things many of us can have in our lives. From birth to death there are many ways mankind helps his fellow man. How many ways can you help?


Saturday, November 20, 2010

How To Prepare To Meditate

By Owen Jones


There is a lot of nonsense talked about meditation. I do not mean what it can do for you because that is difficult to prove one way or the other. I have read people saying that they found all sorts of things in meditation and who am I to say that they did not merely because I have not had the exactly same experience.

I believe that there are many stages of evolution and so what one person experiences in one way another might experience in a entirely different way.

No, I mean that there is a great deal of rubbish talked about how one has to meditate. I am reading an piece this moment by someone who says: '... for a successful meditation practice, everything has to be ideal ..... the room has to be set up in such a way ...' and so it goes on. The person who wrote that piece appears never to have even thought let alone ever meditated.

Meditation has always been most frequently carried out by people with a spiritual bent. Of those people, most people who meditated were monks, because they were seeking enlightenment and had the time and tranquility to meditate. It was difficult to find the time or the quietness if you were a subsistence farmer with ten kids running around.

Anyway, lower orders of monks are not famous for living opulent lives where 'everything ... is ideal'. They live quiet lives and when they want to meditate, they will not be disturbed, no matter where they are but particularly in their cells.

My father used to drive out to a cliff top and meditate behind a bush looking out 100 feet over the Bristol Channel. Frequently he did it in the middle of the night.

It is a good idea that the people you live with understand that when you want to meditate that they must strive not to make a great deal of noise and absolutely not call you by name or barge into the room where you are.

How you can accomplish this in your household, you know better than I, but talking to cohabitants and displaying a sign in a prominent position can help as can always meditating at the same hour of the day, but is not usually practical. Most of us have to take our free time while we can.

Turn off anything that makes a noise. Turn off phones and even the door bell, if you can. Open the window, if it is not unbearably cold or raining cats and dogs. Take a shower and put on loose-fitting comfortable clothes like pyjamas.

Sit on the floor, if you can; cross-legged, if you can. If you are nearly there, try sitting on a cushion or pillow. There are items known as zafu or meditation pillows, which are small and thick.

Some are round and others are square, but a round zafu may be 12 inches in diameter and four to six inches thick. This is to raise you off the ground enough to take the strain off your hips and knees, if you are not used to sitting cross-legged.

It will encourage a correct posture, that is a straight back. It is also softer on the behind and when you are sitting comfortably, you may begin.




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What Do You Mean By Lucid Dreams?

By Simon Hearn


Lucid dream is a state when you are dreaming and are also aware of the fact that you are dreaming. In a lucid state the dreamers understand that they are dreaming and this state begins while you are in the middle of a dream. When an incidence which is unlikely takes place in the dream, this realization hits the dreamer; this unlikely incident could be flying or talking and meeting with a deceased person. On different and numerous occasions people realize that they are in a state of dreaming.

Lucidity quality varies a great extent. When you are at a level of high lucidity level you are aware in your mind that all experiences are taking place in the dream and that there is no real danger. Your awareness is also of the fact that you are fast asleep and will soon wake up.

You are also aware that you are sleeping and will wake up soon. However when low lucidity level you may be aware to a large extent that you are dreaming. Being conscious while dreaming can be thought of as lucid dreaming. When you are dreaming you suddenly realize that you are dreaming, then a lucid dream has been experienced by you, irrespective of the fact whether you have been able to achieve control of your dream.

There is some kind of indication in lucid dreaming which triggers this, a suggestion to the person that it is a reality and not a dream that the person is experiencing. But remember it's not necessary to get those signals to become lucid.

Rarely does it happen that people become lucid with no any notice of something odd or characteristic of dreams. There are some people who are not aware of the difference between having a lucid dream and taking control of a dream. You move on to the next level when you take control of your dreams and this level can be achieved by making an effort to apply your will on your surroundings.

However it may be possible that even then it may be impossible to put forth much control in the beginning. Its altogether experience, your confidence and control that pays an important part in you taking control of your dreams. But just incase you lack confidence in your dreams you may not succeed to control them.

You should work towards changing your behaviors instead of changing your dreams. To take control of your dreams is the best at the time of nightmares. Instead of working on changing your dreams, change your own attitude. You are able to allay your fears just by the understanding that it is only a dream and that there is no physical damage. With this change in your attitude your nightmare will change into something more peaceful.

Instead of changing your dream you can work on changing your behavior. Controlling your dreams is the best during nightmares. Change your own attitude instead of trying to change your dreams. Your fears can get allayed just by the realization that it is only a dream and that you are not able to maintain physical damage. Your nightmare will change into something more peaceful with changes to your attitude in such a manner. Lucid dreams hence are good to defeat nightmares.




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