"hard to get into the right mindset for meditation. also, do ya'll strive to be more mindful during daily life? can you tell me some exercises that you found helpful? one last thing, what do you guys think of the fifth basic precept? no drugs? i love drugs! "
I really can't say what enlightenment is because I really don't know, but I remember when I was 13 I tried mj and after using it for a couple of years I started becoming conscious of my thought patterns. the best way I can explain it was that I was trying to be "mindful of my thoughts". I realized about my happiness and how negative thoughts hinder it and so I started working on myself. before then I was really involved in school (still am) and my mind was racing a thousand miles per hour. When I was 19 I tried my first mushrooms and that was a wake up call for me, very cool. Mushrooms caused a near complete silence in my head and I look at everything as though I was seeing it for the very first time. This brought on appreciation for a lot of things, and so I started my journey again. so drugs, to me at least, can be (as PDU eloquently put it) "a catalyst" for inward seeking. I'm not saying drugs will make you do some soul searching, but with the mindset that I was at, it made me look at things from a totally different perspctive. I actually started LOOKING AROUND and noticing all the cool shit that's there for me to enjoy.
"before, but do you think in this day and age that it is possible to do so? is it possible to do so without a teacher today and as a lay person?"
Yes i do, though it can take a lot of time away! then again, if you aren't performing a task, you could meditate. Or even just look around you a start noticing shit. I dunno, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think you can help your progress to enlightenment whenever you want. I have myself to wake up everyday and go outside and look around, appreciate, and enjoying the air I'm breathing. this is my way of slowing my mind down, which to me is meditating. I don't think you have to be sitting down looking at a candle to meditate, though I'm sure it's VERY effective. as far as teachers go, they're everywhere and most of the time their service is free of charge!
-------------------- Annnnnnd I had a light saber and my friend was there and I said "you look like an indian" and he said "you look like satan" and he found a stick and a rock and he named the rock ooga booga and he named the stick Stick and we both thought that was pretty funny. We got eaten alive by mosquitos but didn't notice til the next day. I stepped on some glass while wading in the swamp and cut my foot open, didn't bother me til the next day either....yeah it was a good time, ended the night by buying some liquor for minors and drinking nips and going to he diner and eating chicken fingers, and then I went home and went to bed.
|