Fractal Enlightenment

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Satori – The Zen Concept of Enlightenment and Self-realisation

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“You and I sip a cup of tea. That act is apparently alike to us both, but who can tell what a wide gap there is subjectively between your drinking and my drinking? In your drinking there may be no Zen, while mine is brim-full of it. The reason for it is : you move in a logical circle and I am out of it.” ~ Introduction-Zen-Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki

In Zen Buddhism, Satori is ‘a glimpse of truth’ or a sudden moment of awakening. Unlike what many believe, Satori is just a natural state of human mind, which is lost in the pursuit of materialistic desires and following the status quo. We, as souls, are infinite beings of light and live in the present moment, connected to cosmos at all times. But with everyday, mundane complications, we tend to lose our natural state of being i.e. Satori.

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Three Tips to Help Transform Your Energy from Obligation to Joy

“If you do something out of duty it will deplete you, but if you do something out of love it will energize you.” ~ Unknown

There are several things that motivate us as human beings to want to change, reach our goals or achieve our aspirations. One of the main motivators to better ourselves is often other people. How many times have we heard or even said ourselves, “I am going to stop drinking for my kids,” “lose weight for my spouse,” “stop smoking for my parents,” etc… And while it may sound noble to use our loved ones as the fuel behind our fire, it actually may end up working against us rather than for us.

When we use other people as our “reason” to stop or start doing something we come to an energetic fork on the road of personal development. Down one way we have the energy of duty/obligation and down the other path is the energy of love/joy. The energy behind our actions makes all the difference in the world. As time passes, and we use obligation as our reason for our actions we will begin to feel depleted energetically.

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Three Ways to Become One With Your Higher Self

“Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional.” ~ Haruki Murakami

OK, I know. Functioning on a low vibration is just so much easier. Why take on more, your soul in perfection, your supposed destiny when you can sit back and coast? Being inert, static… no stagnant is just so satisfyingly anti-life. It’s a rejection of life and the gift you have been given. Better settle for that. It should be enough.

Except it really isn’t. Inside every single last one of us there is a nugget of divine rock getting sharpened and shined up and waiting for the right moment to release itself in all its diamond-like glorious-ness. You’ve known all along this day would come. So why is it that still you wait?

It’s incredibly frightening, not knowing that we might fail and might be useless and meaningless after all, but that we hold such power and force of emotion in the first place! How terrifying to have known all your life that you were made for great things and will one day (because let’s face it, IS inevitable) burst forth, ripe from your cocoon and become divinity in human form.

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3 Ways to Help Children Lead a More Mindful Existence

“Parenting is one of the most challenging, demanding, and stressful jobs on the planet. It is also one of the most important, for how it is done influences in great measure the heart and soul and consciousness of the next generation, their experience of meaning and connection, their repertoire of life skills, and their deepest feelings about themselves and their possible place in a rapidly changing world.” ~ Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn, Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting

What I see time and time again, in parenting magazines and articles discussing whether time-outs on the naughty step are setting healthy boundaries or entirely damaging our un-spoilt little creatures of love. Or perhaps debating over how best to deal with a tantrum – to smother them in hugs and kisses or throw the cereal off the table and join in – is a desperate grab in the dark for what the new generation, or next wave of parenting techniques will look like.

Like any other meditative advice, the best way I’ve found, (apart from living it and staying as present as possible), is to keep it simple. One or two phrases are more than enough to remember in a day full of biscuit baking and leafing through the old favourites on the book shelf, and so I’ve shrunk it down into a few simple phrases… Zen style.

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Five Zen Parables To Trip Up The Mind

“Great Teachers can lead you to the doors of understanding, but it is up to you to enter.” – Lao Tzu

The Monks and The Woman

Two celibate monks, forbidden from even glancing at a woman were traveling to a monastery when they came to a river. The river was very flooded and was impossible to cross without getting wet. They had just decided which would be the shallowest path across the river when the monks noticed a woman a little way along on the same bank, also trying to find a way to cross.

Since the woman was having great trouble and being the gentleman that he was, one of the monks offered to carry her across on his shoulders. She accepted and they began to wade across; they reached the other side where he set her down, she thanked him and went her own way. The monks carried on in silence. ‘Why did you carry that woman across the river?’ The monk asked the other in dismay, ‘We are not allowed to talk to, touch… even let our eyes fall upon a woman let alone carry her! What were you thinking?’ The other monk listened with a smile upon his lips, then softly said. ‘But I put her down when I crossed the river. Why are you still carrying her?’

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Five Yoga Poses to Boost Your Sex Life

Regular practice of yoga harmonizes the chakras, makes you more calm, focused and a balanced being. It is not surprising that yoga also helps improve your sex life. As you become fully aware of the present moment, yoga can help overcome mental barriers and connect with your partner – emotionally, spiritually and even sexually.

It tones up your body, strengthens your core, increases circulation of blood in the pelvic region, which is directly linked to the level of arousal and simply makes you more receptive to intimacy and involved in the act for a longer duration. According to a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, regular yoga practice improved several aspects of sexual function in women, including desire, arousal, orgasm, and overall satisfaction.

Try these following yoga poses to fire up your sex life...

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3 Ways to Drop the Mask for Good

“We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.” ~ André Berthiaume

The subject of self is expansive to say the least. Will anyone ever get to know who we really are? Do we even know? Is the self entirely an illusion, or are we made up of a multitude of egotistical masks and archetypal projections that are layered upon each other as a reflection of the many lives we’ve lived and people we’ve been?

Or perhaps we’re all an expression of the Source yet also in essence of all other expressions of the Source, all experiencing each other simultaneously… as the lines of our separateness continue to blur, the collective consciousness can be the only thing to lay claim and ownership over who we really are…

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The Sacred Spiral: Labyrinths and the Path Towards Wholeness

“The point of a maze is to find the centre. The point of a labyrinth is to find your centre.”

The ancient symbol of the labyrinth, being both the spiral and the circle wrapped into one, has long since represented wholeness. Looking like something between a human brain, a map and a maze, the labyrinth is anything but; not a puzzle to decode, but the beginning and the end all rolled into one. Labyrinths represent our spiritual journeys, seemingly confusing when viewed from an earthly and analytical place, yet woven with the loving care of higher wisdom and a deep awareness that echoes back to us our ancient selves and civilized holiness.

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Sexual Intimacy and Its Connection with Aural Energy

“If everything goes well & sex is natural & flowing, it is a beautiful experience because you can have a glimpse of the second through it. If sex goes really very deep, so that you forget yourself completely in it, you can even have a glimpse of third through it. And if the sex becomes a totally orgasmic experience you can even have a glimpse of the fourth, Turiya the beyond through it.” ~ Osho

Sexuality is closely associated to spirituality in many ways. Although the topic of sex arouses a strong reaction and is often viewed as an obstacle on the path of spiritual development due to the wild nature of sexual energy. Sexual energy is the primal and creative energy of the universe, it opens our heart to love, and enable us to experience deep meditative states and mystical bliss.

Many wise traditions consider the peak moment of sexual energy the death of the ego. When somebody experiences intimacy and reaches orgasm, we feel vulnerable, defenseless, carefree and there is a sense of timelessness. These are the characteristics and true nature of our spirit. Living your life with this level of intimacy would allow the creative energy of the universe to merge with your spirit. Wouldn’t that make it important to be aware with who you share this intimacy with?

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Overcoming Negative Emotions

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“Balance cannot be known unless you taste both extremes. You will dabble, struggle, even suffer until you muster up the the extraordinary courage necessary for embracing all of your humanity.” ~ Amy Larson

Two words that any spiritual seeker is inundated with, no matter what school of thought they are a part of, are “acceptance” and “love”. It doesn’t really matter which spiritual practice we are following or which teacher we are listening to, we are constantly told to accept ourselves as we are, accept others as they are, and unconditionally love everything, including all of our “negative” emotions.

And as simple as many spiritual teachers make it sound, the actual concept of acceptance and love can actually be not only more confusing than it seems, but harder than it looks. How many times on your journey have you told yourself that you can accept that you are angry, let’s say, attempted to love it (in hope of making it go away), and nothing happened?

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