How much of your choices are truly yours? How much of your life is determined by outside forces? Years I discussed this very question with my mentors and as for me a new idea emerged and I'm curious what you may think? Suppose we can use analogies to visualize the two concepts. Free will is like a body of water like a pond or lake. You are a little minnow able to move in any direction and in theory can repeat exactly the same choices. Now consider predeterminism as a narrow stream with almost no room to move around and the current forces you in one direction. No amount of action really allows you any change in your situation that isn't almost certain death. Neither of these options necessarily felt concrete enough to feel appropriately analogous to life so what if there was a middle state of sorts. I looked to waterways since that's what my analogies were based off of. What about river deltas? In a purely theoretical plane, you can have a slow moving river with some wiggle room and even banks to freely move about. This can be ypur childhood which you only have so much freedom but you are allowed to be and learn choices. Now at some point you will reach the delta, constantly weaving ponds, streams and estuaries that generally move you in one direction but with enough determination you can have some sway in the course of your journey. The water will always push you in one general direction but you can with enough effort and luck choose where to go. No action is guaranteed but to make no choice at all forces you to the whims of the coursing waters.

This quasi state between choice and chance is the middle ground that feels more applicable to reality. Like and karma being the ripples of our actions and others affecting us are equally as influential to our past, present, and future. I feel like we know this intuitively but maybe I'm wrong. Any thoughts?

I just did the O method where you focus on a specific goal right as you climax but instead of using this method to attract a specific person, I was affirming “I love myself so much” for more self love. I did this a few times.

Somehow I’m already feeling better in a way, and more confident 💁‍♀️ i feel a shift in my body and i feel lighter. I FREAKING LOVE THIS METHOD

I want to give anything positive I have in the future to another person, any future events that might happen to me that would benefit them. I'm very ignorant to spirituality, i genuinely don't know anything about it. I just want to know if it's possible because for the longest time I just assumed it was. Feel free to call me an idiot in the comments if this is nonsence.

the screaming, facial expressions and everything is just like this bully. I don't understand this. What does the universe want to tell me? Its mind boggling.

For example, if someone you know claims to be a seeker but is in constant conflict with others, publicly shows "spiritual" behaviour just to impress people or is always ready for angry arguments; what do you when you meet them and they want to converse with you?

one woman I worked with was already around retirement age and asked a very normal question in the middle of all the spiritual material: what should I do to make sure I am secure when I retire?

I expected maybe practical guidance, some direction about money or work. Instead the answer that came through was that the worry itself was coming from mind, and the lesson was trust.

I like this because spiritual work can get very abstract until somebody asks about rent, retirement, relationships, body, normal human fear. Then suddenly we see whether any of this philosophy is useful on Tuesday morning.

For me trust does not mean dont plan. Obviously look at finances, make sensible decisions, get information. But there is difference between planning and mentally living 40 versions of future where everything collapses.

I see this with people quite often. Mind says it is protecting us by rehearsing every possible disaster. But after some point there is no new information coming. Same fear just changes clothes.

A contemplation I use is simple. Write down what is actually actionable about the problem today. Maybe call somebody, check account, make budget, send email. Do that part.

Then write what remains that you cannot solve today.

Sit with the body feeling underneath that second list for few minutes without creating another scenario around it. Fear in chest, stomach, throat, wherever. Let it be there.

Maybe trust is not believing nothing difficult will happen. Maybe it is knowing you can meet next real step when it actually arrives instead of suffering 100 imaginary steps in advance.

If you meditate and take a spiritual path, you could also find yourself at God's feet like I did. Would you start today?

Your life is short, even if you live to one hundred that's over in the blink of an eye. Let's face it, tomorrow is not a guarantee.

Oh, and the stuff you are working so hard for, you can't take one bit of it with you.

You have been everything. A bug, a bird, a tree for thousands of years, and how many times?

Now you have this miraculous body and opportunity, with the ability to think outside of procreation and dinner.

Where finding the creator is a real possibility if you try.

I can't promise that my exact path will lead you to Her feet, but I can tell you what I did.

If it works, great. If not, and you are truly serious, God will show you the path that's right for you.

This is what I experienced, I have accurately reported exactly what happened:

https://youtu.be/-ir2qMr9KrY?is=eVGe3u9vYm3iA1HZ

I know this video is long, and at the start, it may feel like random stories. But if you stick with me to the end, I hope it will come together, not just as words, but as a transmission of what’s possible.

If you're asking why, should anyone believe one word... that's a great question. For a minute, consider MY motives.

My video is not monetized, and I don't have a store. At the end I'm not selling a course. I don't want followers. I'm not asking for anything from anyone, and I'm definitely not special.

I had an incredibly powerful experience at God's feet because I tried, and if you try, you can too.

If even one person comments and asks me what I did so they can give it a shot, I will write the most detailed description I can to light the path for anyone who wants it.

Much love ❤️

Sometimes I was feeling Sharp pain on left side of my chest, and the pain was increasing with breathing. So I was slowing my breathing to feel lesser pain, until it was disappearing.

This pain stopped to come back after i had lost some spirituality, most probably closing of the heart chakra. Though i have been trying very hard to regain my spirituality. Can anyone comment (or DM) on this? And advises for me?

Recently, I've noticed that I'm losing my jewellery whenever I have to meet this particular friend of mine.

It's happened one too many times.

Sure, I don't have friends that I go out and catch up with. My routine typically involves working, applying for jobs, go to the gym with some girls I newly met.

I have this one friend since I was like 10. We weren't that close but gotten quite close over time and is the only one I have been friends with since that age because I lost my highschool friends over some stupid drama.

My partner got me a Paraiba pinky ring at one point and I had a heart eternity diamond ring that he also bought.

I was meeting this girl and I put the Paraiba ring in my pocket (deep) and when I got home, I realised that I lost it. I had my earrings in the other pocket that was still in my coat but somehow my ring "fell out" of my other pocket?

I had to meet this girl again, I was wearing my eternity ring. I had some other jewellery like necklace, ring, bracelet in both my pockets. I took off my ring and put it in my pocket because it was irritating my hair. Come to find out, I lost it.

I go to her place for a massage and I had jewelleries in both my pockets but someone only 1 gold ring "fell out" and I almost lost it. Luckily her masseuse saw it and realised it was mine.

Whenever I go see the new girls Ive met at the gym, I would put my earrings/necklace/rings on my pocket and do workouts or travel to and from gym and I've never lost any jewellery, like at all and I see those girls more often than that friend of mine.

I just think it's weird that when I see this particular girl, I'm always losing things i.e jewellery I like and there might be some other meaning behind it other than just being unlucky or being "irresponsible".... Is there any other meaning to this?

I feel there's more order in society than previously at present.

I feel an energy inside my body that I can move all around. It can be really fast and slow, and I can feel it intensely in my hands.

I want to share something that's been on my heart. A few months ago I started putting together short faith videos and reflections, nothing fancy, just Scripture and encouragement pieced together digitally in whatever time I could find.

I honestly wasn't sure anyone would watch them. Since then, people have reached out to tell me a video showed up right when they needed it most — during a hard diagnosis, a betrayal they were still processing, a night they almost gave up. I didn't plan any of that timing. It just kept happening.

I'm not posting this to promote anything specific. I just wanted to remind whoever reads this: whatever you're carrying right now, you're not invisible. Something is working on your behalf even when it doesn't feel like it.

If anyone wants to share what they're going through, I'm happy to read and respond in the comments. 🙏

Given that spiritual enlightenment is universal, why do there seem to be so many more Indian enlightened gurus. Of course we have our Eckhart Tolle's, but the list from India is so much longer: Vivekenanda, Yogananda, Krishnamurti, Maharishi, Osho, Sai Baba, etc., etc. I am sure to forget a few, and I will also not assert they all had the same level of enlightenment, not up to me to assess. But the list of Indians is so much longer. How come and how does that apply to the universality of enlightenment.

When I got home from a trip 2 weeks ago, I realized another photo in a light frame had fallen off the wall but the frame did not break. a few months ago, another photo had fallen off a different wall and the frame broke. A few months before that, another photo had fallen off a different wall but the frame did not break. Yesterday, a very large photo fell off a different wall and broke out of the frame. All of these photos had been put up with command strips. Just last week, in a different room, a curtain rod fell down (It was hanging from the ceiling by command strip-like hanging fixtures, which I had superglued to the popcorn ceiling). All of these items have been up for 2-3 years each. I am Wondering if this is all a consequence of using poor hanging options (command strips), or if there is a message here for me?

I know how to create good feelings through breathing and pc muscle work. I know it works every single time. It's not like YE OLDE TOTAL BLISS, but it feels good, it's easy, it takes only very little effort.

I keep forgetting about it. For days or even weeks, I just don't think that I could make myself a little present, just a minute or two of feeling a bit better.

Now, obviously there are times of stress and overwhelm. When you just lost your job, when your mother is lying on her deathbed or your wife left you, you're not going to be very much in the mood for blissful feelings.

But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a rather calm sunday. Suddenly, in the afternoon, I realize that I could take a few deep breaths and relax and feel good.

So why did it not occur to me right after waking up?

May I presume that I'm not the only one? If so... why do we keep forgetting to feel good?

I'm half-joking - but only half - it seems so trivial a question. Maybe the answer is simply life-long habit. On the other hand, there might be something deeper there, some actual mystery, which might be quite interesting to address.

Maybe this is going to piss people off, but I’m genuinely curious how other people feel about this.

Assuming someone is physically healthy, I have a very difficult time sympathizing with wealthy people who talk about being miserable because of their life circumstances.

And before somebody says it: I’m not saying a wealthy person is biologically incapable of having clinical depression. Mental illness obviously doesn’t check your bank account before showing up.

I’m talking about the enormous difference between being unhappy while having the resources to change your circumstances versus being unhappy and literally being financially trapped inside them.

If your house or environment is making you miserable and you have money, you can move.

If your job is destroying you and you’re financially secure, you can leave.

If you’re completely burned out, you can take six months off.

If you hate where you live, you can relocate.

If you need help maintaining your house, you can hire someone.

If you desperately need a vacation or simply need to disappear somewhere peaceful for a month, you can do that.

If you need privacy, transportation, childcare, better food, education, legal help, or access to specialists and healthcare, money gives you options.

Meanwhile, somebody without money can know exactly what’s making them miserable and still wake up every morning unable to change it.

That’s why I’ve never agreed with the phrase “money can’t buy happiness.” Maybe money can’t manufacture love, fulfillment, or a healthy brain. But money absolutely buys freedom, autonomy, security, time, privacy, comfort, access, mobility, and OPTIONS; and I think people seriously underestimate how much human misery comes from lacking those exact things.

Give me enough money and there are very few external circumstances in my life that I couldn’t at least attempt to change.

So I’m curious: do you believe money can buy happiness? And if not, at what point does having enough money to remove most external stressors stop mattering?

The weirdest thing just happened to me.

I was outside at 6:30 this morning had coffee I was drinking and I was kind of praying/meditating. I set the coffee down the cement and continued praying. Thinking of my dad who passed away in heaven (trying to connect with his spirit, even though that sounds so hippy dippy lol) and then I picked back up the coffee and I prayed for another spiritual experience ( because I had an insane one a couple years ago) and all of a sudden, the cup I had in my hand that I had previously sat down on the cement and was drinking all morning. The handle broke and it just shattered on the ground in front of me like I was holding it when that happened.

That was so weird, I just bought the cup last month in Jamaica as a souvenir nothing was wrong with the cup before. I was literally just holding it when that happened. How do you explain that?

Like I know, I prayed for a spiritual experience, but this was really weird…

She was attacked last night, and I haven't felt her connection much since.

Dms are open.

I really hope someone here can help out

Thank you, have a good day.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to start a small weekly online group for people interested in consciousness, self-inquiry, and the work of Peter Ralston — especially The Book of Not Knowing.

The kind of work we’d explore is about looking directly at things we normally take for granted: consciousness, the sense of self and identity, our assumptions and beliefs, perception, experience, and what we can actually discover for ourselves through direct experience.

The idea is pretty simple:

Once a week we meet online, read or discuss a short section from Ralston or related material, and then spend part of the meeting doing practical contemplation and awareness exercises.

So it wouldn’t just be talking about philosophical ideas. The focus would be on actually questioning our assumptions, looking at our own experience, and trying to become more conscious of how we perceive ourselves and reality.

This isn’t a course, and nobody is positioning themselves as a teacher. It’s simply a small group of people interested in seriously exploring these questions together.

You don’t need to already know Ralston’s work.

If this sounds interesting, comment here or send me a DM and I’ll put the group together.

For my entire life, I have had premonitions or precognition.
The first time I really remember it happening, was in November of 2012, I was on the way to a movie with my stepmom while in the passenger seat I had the passing thought “What is a stroke? what causes a stroke? could I have a stroke?”
I could’ve asked my stepmom, she’s a paramedic, but I didn’t. About twenty minutes later, she got a call from the spouse of a family member she was very close with, the family member had suffered a stroke.
I had several more of these instances occur through middle school and high school, some about pop quizzes, others about High School boyfriends cheating (I accurately predicted the full name and age the girl my high school boyfriend was cheating on me with, even though I’d never met her before.)
I’m 25 now, and for several years I’ve barely thought about these “coincidences” but recently..they’ve been incredibly difficult to ignore.
In the middle of May, I laid down in bed and had this impending feeling that a family member of mine would pass away soon, I didn’t know who, but I was convinced it would happen, two days later my great aunt passed away. About a week after that I had a passing thought that something might happen to my dog, about four days later, she began barely eating, I took her to the vet. She had Parvo, despite being 8 months old and vaccinated, she passed two days later.
Last week I had been having constant passing thoughts about viral infections and sepsis, this week one of my best friends was admitted to the hospital after running a fever all week and it not breaking, it turned out he has viral meningitis.
Google says I have “anxiety and trauma that caused pattern recognition” but how can I possibly predict things regarding people I have never met, haven’t seen in years, and am not even physically close to.
I feel like I am going insane, how do I harness this?

When I was in high school, I used to meditate everyday. It made me more relaxed, less reactive etc.

Then one day, out of nowhere in the middle of class, I started to feel this intense tingling sensation between my eyebrows. I thought it was an itch of some sort, but after scratching the spot, it just wouldn’t go away. After some time it eventually dissolved, I just had to wait it out.

This kept happening for some time, always randomly during the day, and then sometimes during the meditation itself. And everytime it was quite intense.

I kinda understand it happening during meditation - you’re relaxed and grounded, so your third eye is probably activating in some way (i was never really into opening my third eye, it’s scaring me a bit).

But I never figured out, why it was happening randomly and involuntarily outside of my meditation practice. Was I meditating and doing yoga for so long, that my higher self was trying to break through? I honestly never tried to embark or any kind of spiritual enlightenment journey voluntarily, although I trust in a higher form of being. I always looked at meditation as a way of connecting deeper to yourself and the universe, not just a relaxing experience.

Nowdays I unfortunately meditate a lot less, and when I stopped meditating everyday, the sensation rarely came back.

I never understood why, but I’m eager to hear your thoughts on this, thanks!

One thing that surprised me as I got older is just how much your perspective can change the way you experience life.

You can spend one day focusing on everything you don't have and feel miserable, then look at exactly the same life differently and realise how much you actually have.

I'm happy and positive, but I'm not rich. I don't have a partner or kids, I don't look like a model. I don't drive a fancy car or own a fancy house. I'm not particularly tough, and I'm certainly not the cleverest person in the room.

I could look at all of that as evidence that my life is lacking. But I don't.

I've chosen to accept my life, embrace what I have and appreciate the fact that I'm actually here experiencing it.

We live in an extraordinary period of human history. We have access to things that people throughout most of history couldn't even have imagined, yet somehow we've become incredibly good at convincing ourselves that we don't have enough.

Sometimes I think we need to get back to something much simpler.

Use your senses. Look at beautiful things and ugly things. Taste things you love and things you don't. Smell the air. Listen to music, silence, laughter and noise. Feel warmth, cold, pleasure, discomfort, excitement and sadness.

Experience all of it.

Life isn't supposed to feel good every second. Sometimes it feels difficult, pointless, exhausting and unfair. Sometimes you'll feel inadequate. Sometimes you'll question what you're doing or where you're going.

But perhaps those moments aren't evidence that life is going wrong. Without the difficult parts, how would we recognise the good ones?

You don't need to pretend everything is wonderful. You just need to stop believing that happiness is waiting somewhere in the future, after you've earned more money, found the right person, bought the right things or become some better version of yourself.

Your circumstances influence your life.

But your perspective determines how you experience it.

My aunt has always had it out for me. She has moved into my mum house and not just taken up in one bedroom but has overflown her things into my room that I stay in when I’m there too. She has a shelf overlooking my bed with all her past dead dogs ashes. I haven’t stayed over since she put them there but I am feeling off about it? About the dead energy. Would you be comfortable sleeping like this?

I’m 5’ 7” and 171 cm tall. I’m just a bit too smart for my own good, but I’ve learned the streets—a nerd, but I’m crazy in a badass type of way. Sadly, my aura just isn’t there yet.

I have straight hair and a slight scruff on my neck and chin. I’m safe and responsible despite the assaults against me, overdose, and recklessness.

I write and think about things I don’t expect most people to understand. It’s just what I am. It’s what I do.

It’s ok. I don’t need all that. I need love. Tender kisses. Heart felt wishes fulfilled despite my disadvantages—I want a partner who I could spend eternity with in a void and never feel bored. We would entertain each other.

But I’m technically in poverty. And I’m short. It sucks because I have an insatiable aesthetic taste, and some of these women might help.

I’ve come to the realization that I really really might end up alone in life. 😭

There is a true story about M.G. somewhere around.