Do you remember when you became interested in your inner life?

Paco Dennis

Paco Dennis

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Location
Mid-Missouri
I remember a friend of my Dads who took an interest in me "spiritually" when I was about 16. I think he was a unitarian, and he invited me over to his house. He talked to me about my relationship with God, and how it could change my life . Somehow it make it all better. I listened and then he took me in the bathroom and told me to stare into the mirror. I did, and he told me I was God. I am what God looks like. So do all of us. We ARE God's face. Then I left, remembering how messed up the whole thing had been. Forget that nonsense is what I did.

When I was 17, and on the run from high school and my home, I stayed in a commune in the Santa Cruz mountains. I was reading a book that was describing how one's attitude determine's what happens to you. That really caught my attention. I had become interested in my own behavior. It started making sense that my thoughts and attitude ( emotional life ), were creating my life.

Sense that time, I have been an intronaut. Exploring my inner world to understand the outer world.
 

I now realize that I have been on this journey most of my life, only I hadn't really realized it. I was just searching for truth about who and what I was, along with any spiritual realizations. It wasn't until about 5 years ago that I came to understand that mystery. I think the friend of your Dad's was right in part.

I think "God" is a loaded term, with much disagreement as to it's interpretation. But I do think we are the face of nature. We are nature. We came from nature, and we will return there. But is there more there than just appearance?

What separates a person from getting to know and experience the spirit that comprises all of nature is a letting go and merging of energy. It cannot be found in the world of thought. It is a deeper dimension. It is a profound and peaceful state of mind that is both soul satisfying as well as illuminating.

When you are in the bussiness of the world, you lose contact with the natural essence of your being. It only comes back to you when the noise fades and you purposely focus on spiritual quietness. That is where awareness happens. You stop thinking and start feeling
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When silence envelops you, listen to it, and move toward it. When you are completely silent, your mind notices things that are normally drowned out in an overstimulated world. It is the way to stripping away the chains of modern life. It is the modern world that makes us strangers to ourselves.

An old adage is "God only comes to those who are alone".
Perhaps we are all spirits on earth who just happened to have a body.
There can be a program on the radio, but we will never hear it unless we tune in to that frequency. If not, it simply doesn't exist as far as we are concerned. If I hand a hammer to a blind man who has no sense of touch, it doesn't exist in his reality.

Ecospirituality rings true for me, and I sense it. It is where I find peace and belonging. It is now a vital part of my inner life that I connect with everyday.
 
Uncertain if 3 episodes of full blown psychosis has anything to do with the way I think, on all 3 occasions I had to start from scratch and relearn basic life skills. Because of these early ventures into my psyche I developed the ability to live each moment as it occurs. I do not fear life or death nor do I worry of feel anxious because I am secure in my thoughts and decisions. Life is good the way I am, even when I feel bad it’s all part of life and I am an eager participant.
 
I got a taste of being in the moment taking hallucinogenics in the 70s. Could never stay that way very long until I was in my mid-fifties, now i live that way all of the time.
 
officerripley said:
If by "inner life" you mean spirituality or something, then no, I never have. I've been too busy since the beginning just trying to get my body to work correctly (a losing battle most of the time).
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I mean wondering how our mind effects our body and behavior. Psychology is the study most associated with this kind of inquiry. It has led me to many different religions also. I became interested in Buddhism because it studies these inquiries also.

A video I saw las night shocked me on how much our mind "believes" what our senses are telling us. That is great, but it also can be a big problem, especially when we are interpreting pain and suffering in our body. Watch this video and see how much our mind believes in false information.

 
Paco Dennis said:
I mean wondering how our mind effects our body and behavior. Psychology is the study most associated with this kind of inquiry. It has led me to many different religions also. I became interested in Buddhism because it studies these inquiries also.

A video I saw las night shocked me on how much our mind "believes" what our senses are telling us. That is great, but it also can be a big problem, especially when we are interpreting pain and suffering in our body. Watch this video and see how much our mind believes in false information.

Click to expand...
The doctor should have hit the guy's real hand with the hammer! That would have been funny. :ROFLMAO:
 
Very early for a variety of reasons: A Dad that taught us there are consequences for our choices--some pleasant and some not; A Mom so emotionally needy that i was also aware of the effect our words and deeds had on others from preschool age (actually suppressed a lot of my own pain, physical and emotional, because she overreacted so strongly--tho she always seemed more concerned about my physical well being than emotional); extreme awareness of my dreams from 3-4yrs onward. But it was around puberty that i started looking for answers, for ways to be more fully, openly me.

That's when i launched into my own research on world religions and philosophies. Was drawn toward Eastern ones more than the Abrahamic faiths. But between being a teen and my family's dramas, i despaired at the time of ever being able to find that path to inner peace. It was one of those 2 steps forward at least one backward till i was 33 and had formal meditation training. (i'd read about it and done some makeshift strides, but sometimes my success in achieving goals was a little scary--the training and additional readings helped.)

These days i strike a balance i think between inner/outer life. Giving some thought and forming good habits makes the must do stuff less taxing. And stopping to appreciate the good things (furry friends, rainbows, changing seasons, family/friends) helps feed the inner self. We are only in these forms on this world for brief period (compared to cosmic time) and there are joys to be had as well as things to be learned.
 
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@bobcat said "I think "God" is a loaded term, with much disagreement as to it's interpretation." True. Why i tend to think/feel in terms of 'Universal' or 'Cosmic' Consciousness. Recently read a book by Prof. Gary. E. Schwartz called "The G.O.D. Experiments". The G.O.D. stands for 'Guiding Organizing Designing' principle? force? i tend to see it as a 'field'. Just as science acknowledges and builds theories based on fields (gravity, magnetic, electrical) that are hard to measure directly but rather known by their effects---why not a field of Consciousness?

i've long said many of the things most people think of as 'paranormal' are quite natural--just not understood yet and in fact many of them could be explained by a 'field' of consciousness that permeates as well as can link individual consciousnesses (mind/soul--the intangible 'me' and 'you' that some think is just a by-product of physical brain functions and societal conditioning) with other individuals and the 'field': G.O.D. Now that's how i both hear and visualize it when people say 'God'.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I remember a friend of my Dads who took an interest in me "spiritually" when I was about 16. I think he was a unitarian, and he invited me over to his house. He talked to me about my relationship with God, and how it could change my life . Somehow it make it all better. I listened and then he took me in the bathroom and told me to stare into the mirror. I did, and he told me I was God. I am what God looks like. So do all of us. We ARE God's face. Then I left, remembering how messed up the whole thing had been. Forget that nonsense is what I did.

When I was 17, and on the run from high school and my home, I stayed in a commune in the Santa Cruz mountains. I was reading a book that was describing how one's attitude determine's what happens to you. That really caught my attention. I had become interested in my own behavior. It started making sense that my thoughts and attitude ( emotional life ), were creating my life.

Sense that time, I have been an intronaut. Exploring my inner world to understand the outer world.
Click to expand...
Children of abuse will have a hard time with this and it is understandable. They've had to rely on themselves for ever.
 

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