Who inspired YOU to get on the spiritual path?

[Plenum]

for me, Paramahansa Yogananda. (autobiography of a yogi)

That little orange paperback, with his face tilted at a strange angle ...

what a book!

- -

I still have trouble believing half the stuff described in that book ...

[AnthroHeart]

I've been spiritual for at least the last 10 or so years. There wasn't a guru in particular.
The Law of One in the last 2 years has pushed me in a particular direction of seeking.
Though I've never really been good at meditation.
At the moment I'm kind of stepping away from the spiritual path because it tends
to make me oversensitive emotionally. And the spiritual lessons have been very hard for me.
I would say though that Ra has been the biggest influence when I was on my spiritual path.
For now, I'm all but stopped in my seeking. Trying to ground myself in this reality.

[Diana]

I have been on the path since I can recall being able to think (5-years-old or thereabouts). But not specifically any particular spirituality, just knowledge gathering and curiosity beyond the 3D experience. Because of this, I attracted to myself all manner of varied information sources including quantum physics and string theory, old texts of theosophy and spiritualism, to novels with esoteric concepts, to modern-day channelings, and on and on.

I liked Autobiography of a Yogi .

[godwide_void]

Nobody inspired me. I'd say the conjunction of the finding of the Law of One material for the referential aspect and my own entheogenic experiences to serve as the experiential scope were what kickstarted my treading down this path.

In my entire life, I have never followed any religion, philosophy or school of thought and I always had a deep-rooted interest in theosophy and metaphysics (even when I was too young to know what those concepts were!) and even when I was an extremely skeptical atheist. My own experiences, observations and insights continue to push me forward, now knowing that all which occur do so according to the machinations of the Creation, allowing us to discover who we have forgotten.

The only inspiration I have is the One Infinite Creator.

[Oldern]

As a child, it was Son Goku from Dragon Ball. Look at him. Always ready to sacrifice himself for the world. Always.
Then later on, I have read a lot of books but have found no particular person to look up to.

Nowadays, everyone

[Oceania]

i've always believed in angels ghosts and aliens.

[TheFifty9Sound]

As a teenager my favourite TV show was Angel (the Buffy spin off), as I was always drawn to the battle of light and darkness within the individual. I think this was probably a reflection of my personal desires that conflicted with my Catholic upbringing.

I didn't start to resolve these until I started reading Tom Robbins, and whilst I wouldn't say he INSPIRED me to get on the spiritual path, as I was always searching - He got me asking the right questions. This eventually led me to the Law of One.

[AnthroHeart]

Funny, as a kid I thought UFOs and ETs were stupid ideas. Didn't really think much about them.
Now it's another story, feeling that I'm an ET-soul myself.
I also didn't really give much creedence to angels. I believed they existed, but didn't really care. Now, I sort of count on them to help keep love in my heart.

[3DMonkey]

I can remember, as a six or seven year old, being scared of monsters, and at that age, I realized that I could tell them what to do. I recognized that I was creating them in my head, so I could command them... I still formed them in a "scary" sense, I just told them what to do.

But then, at 17 or 18, I read "Science of the Mind", and realized how much I was in control of my thoughts. But... at the time, all the mention of bible-type references caused confusion, so I followed the bible for a while.

Geez, looking back, it was like believing in magic and wishing every night I could learn that magic.

---

The Bible closed me off. It genuinely contributed to wide walls creating a tough box around me.

Then my neighbor spoke of UFOs. I witnessed myself, firsthand, shut him out. When faced with real experience, our character shines through. I didn't like shutting him out without justification, so I tried to see his view... hahahha. That opened me up out of my box!!!!

[drifting pages]

Depends of what your definition of ~spiritual~ means.

To me anyone that uses their imagination and emotion in a focused manner towards any purpose is spiritual.

We are thought and thought is us, when you realize that, everything is spiritual.

You are your thoughts quite literally.

[Liet]

I've always ben a pacifist who didnt give in to social pressure (i'm the only one i know who never started smoking) and a Non-extremist (middle path). But the spiritual didnt get through to me untill i experienced it myself (basicaly didnt look beneath the surface, i saw crazy and turned away).

I found spirituality (~27 months ago) through accidentaly meditating.. while high.. got the reaction "wtf was that?" when the energy surged up my spine for the first time. Tried to recreate the effect by mimicing everything i previously did and after a few minutes i had determined that...
#1: it wasnt just a chill buzz
#2: it was thought/emotion controlled

I had always shunned upon the tibetan yogis and monks, thinking "What an utter waste of time, sitting down, doing exactly nothing, all day"

Took me about 2 months after first finding meditation before i was doing it 5-15 hours a day ^^
Never bothered to look far into meditation techniques of others.. they never seemd to yield as good results as what felt natural for the given moment.



.....I still consider the majority of new-age'ers to be crazy ^^ due to their inability to NOT, seem that way. (gotta meet them half way, guys! c'mon)

[3DMonkey]

I think everyone is crazy, so...

Aaaaand, someone died today and I didn't feel a thing.

I never meant a literal spiritual existence, only a conceptual one.

[indolering]

.
The ancient sages of China via the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching, Alan Watts, Tim Leary and Joseph Campbell. Since then, I've been inspired by many, including Paul Brunton, Indian gurus & yogis, The Ra Material, the Tarot and others. We each have many teachers during our sojourn on Earth, and I for one am grateful for their service.

[3DMonkey]

Why listen to people? I don't think any of those people know more than you do.

---

Remember this, they all poop in the potty. Same as anyone. We all do it. .... Wipey wipey

[indolering]

Why listen to people? I don't think any of those people know more than you do.

---

Remember this, they all poop in the potty. Same as anyone. We all do it. .... Wipey wipey

Why listen to your parents? Because they love you and know much more than you do. Why listen to your math teacher? Because he endeavors to introduce you to the vagaries of numbers. We all have guides. As Socrates said, 'Wisdom is knowing how little we know'.
Have you never been inspired in a spontaneous moment by a serendipitous remark or gesture...? I'm inspired by Carla R., whose dedication and purity have made the Ra channelings possible.

[Conifer16]

Diana, you have perfectly said it for me. :-) I had written a huge post with lots of detail about my reading journey and safari crashed :-) lol shows my sense of fun that I just laughed. Just two months ago I would have growled and gotten angry. Oh how much I have changed :-)

-Conifer16- Adonai Vasu Borragus

[Oldern]

Why listen to people? I don't think any of those people know more than you do.

---

Remember this, they all poop in the potty. Same as anyone. We all do it. .... Wipey wipey

I do not really resonate with your stuff
Not respecting and "listening to" other people is the core of a very bad and lonely path, imho.

[Sagittarius]

Myself but the event that kicked it into hyper-drive was my first LSD trip.
Seeing and feeling what I felt confirmed the truth I felt, I then started my true journey when I delved into the many literary works available about spirituality.

One of the first things I read was about chaos magik and the author talked about shedding the ego and adopting new ones on purpose to realize and learn the power of the mind. This helped drill in the point of constant change in the consciousness and the mind, always see things from multiple points of view and to learn to distinguish the truth I know to be out of the information.

After that I delved into Aleistar Crowley's works which where way over complicated however I think the technicality of it really helps ingraining the concepts in your mind, the connections between everything and his tables of examples.

I read the Law of One pretty early on and found it amazing. I obviously wasn't ready for some realizations yet so I sought of forgot about it and continued for another year or so concentrating on other works and areas. So I eventually re-discovered the Law of One and that has really been the catalyst for a lot of major catalysts last year and so far this year.

[3DMonkey]

Why listen to people? I don't think any of those people know more than you do.

---

Remember this, they all poop in the potty. Same as anyone. We all do it. .... Wipey wipey

Why listen to your parents? Because they love you and know much more than you do. Why listen to your math teacher? Because he endeavors to introduce you to the vagaries of numbers. We all have guides. As Socrates said, 'Wisdom is knowing how little we know'.
Have you never been inspired in a spontaneous moment by a serendipitous remark or gesture...? I'm inspired by Carla R., whose dedication and purity have made the Ra channelings possible.

Socrates wiped, same as you or me. He didn't know anything more than any one of us. I'm not any wiser than my children. My ego wants to think I am. I have all the answers. Just ask.

---

There is only one thing a person needs, to be a leader.

Followers.

There is only one thing a person needs, to be wise.

Listeners.

[Oceania]

you can be a leader with no followers, lead your own life. to be wise, you need to know that.

[3DMonkey]

You're right. Everyone is right. We have all the answers. We know everything!

[indolering]

.
No one lives in a vaccuum. I think you guys missed the point of the thread:-/

[3DMonkey]

Are we not talking about inspiration?

[Diana]

Why listen to people? I don't think any of those people know more than you do.

---

Remember this, they all poop in the potty. Same as anyone. We all do it. .... Wipey wipey

Why listen to your parents? Because they love you and know much more than you do. Why listen to your math teacher? Because he endeavors to introduce you to the vagaries of numbers. We all have guides. As Socrates said, 'Wisdom is knowing how little we know'.
Have you never been inspired in a spontaneous moment by a serendipitous remark or gesture...? I'm inspired by Carla R., whose dedication and purity have made the Ra channelings possible.

Socrates wiped, same as you or me. He didn't know anything more than any one of us. I'm not any wiser than my children. My ego wants to think I am. I have all the answers. Just ask.

---

There is only one thing a person needs, to be a leader.

Followers.

There is only one thing a person needs, to be wise.

Listeners.

I think there is another way to see this issue. There is no need to "follow," and there is also no need to shut everyone out, or not listen, because one wants to think for one's self.

The middle road is this: Absolutely yes, think for your self! But at the same time, stay open. When one is open to information coming in from any source, then one can think or evolve with the maximum of input and help. One might learn something from any conceivable source: a homeless person, a guru (if one is not blindly following; if one is blindly following I would venture to say that one learns nothing except how to follow blindly); a child, a plant, a dream, etc. This is why I don't "believe"; belief stops new information in its tracks.

The trick is to think for yourself while always staying open to all input; to not push away information which conflicts with pet theories; to utilize intuitive capabilities while balancing those with wisdom/discernment (your own).

[Snowflower]

When I was 7 years old, I was told in church that I needed to become a missionary when I grew up to go save the heathens in Africa. I asked the teacher what about all the people who died before I turned 18, and her answer was that was unfortunate and that they would go to hell, so I needed to hurry up and grow up. It made no sense to me that God would condemn them to hell because I was only 7 years old. I mark that as the time I was free to choose my own path.

I give credit to a psychopath who attempted to destroy my life for causing a significant turn in the road I was on back in 2001. I left my religious community and the vacuum that created in my life forced me to find something to fill it. I've been on an active search ever since.

[indolering]

.
Good post, Diana. I was starting to get bogged down, but you pulled me right out of it.

Balancing intuition and reason, inner and outer, self and environment....TY

[Diana]

.
Good post, Diana. I was starting to get bogged down, but you pulled me right out of it.

Balancing intuition and reason, inner and outer, self and environment....TY

You're welcome. I'm happy to have said something of value.

[C-JEAN]

Hi, mind/body/spirit complexes.

Who/what got me there and here is the link in
the first line of my signature !

It is a "3 DVD kit" totaly extraordinary !
My brother watched it 10 times!
I watched HIS DVDs 6 times! and
I finaly did buy the kit to watch it again and again. . .!!

When someone says:

Hi: Never been to a movie 4 times before, but enjoyed it more each time.

it gives you an good idea ! ! B-)

Blue skies.

[zenmaster]

Are we not talking about inspiration?

3DM, I know this is one of your hang-ups, but consider that there are different aspects of the logos that we are able to uniquely accept and experience by virtue of our individual interests and dedication. We can share that uniqueness with others and that indeed may inspire, just as anything in nature, like a sunrise, can inspire.

[3DMonkey]

I'm all for being inspired.

Yes. My hang up bled through with "why listen", but I didn't intend the extent some took it as.

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Diana wrote exactly what I was thinking when I wrote that.