I have had Reiki as well. It didn't have quite the same effect on me when I tried it. Relaxing, sure, but no different to another massage. I wonder if it comes down to the Reiki master in the end.

Thanks, all those who replied. That's food for thought indeed. I tend to agree that organized religion is not the answer, since the external is not where 'enlightenment' lies.

The Conversations with God books I have read. I did find the humor in them somewhat immature and a little distracting, although many of the points he made were terrific and got me to thinking along different lines. There's a book called God without religion by Saranam Somebody or other, which I might read. I will also pursue the Krishnamurti angle too, see if that resonates.

All fascinating.

Wow. Fascinating.

I didn't say I was looking for God, though. I'm fascinated by an entire range of possibilities that people have invested their lives in. I applaud the Buddhist who gave up his wealth for a simple life. My question is, why could he not have chosen the simple life and all the beauty and wonder that must bring without subscribing to a particular faith or religion? In modern America, Christianity seems to have switched from a wholesome belief system for the masses based on a stack of incontrovertible truths, to a cult based on fear and vile opposition to anyone who doesn't fully concede or commit to the Christian viewpoint. There is more hate rooted in Christianity now than ever before. Why did the Buddhist not live a life free of such burdensome dilemmas, I wonder?

Sorry to pop this into someone else's thread (i've read the whole thing), but....Lapis, I'm curious, do you feel there are past and present spiritual teachers worth listening to, I guess particularly present day teachers, in the sense that many believe we are in an important time of evolutionary change and there might be "masters" out there who are in touch with a higher level of consciousness and can show us a better way? I don't subscribe to any particular belief system either, I was raised in a born-again-christian environment with a lot of fear and guilt. When I eventually rejected that belief system, I didn't really replace it with anything, other than a general feeling that the universe is a complex but generally benevolent place, we are all connected, and there is a purpose for everything. I actually got hit over the head with that once during what I think was my only out of body experience, getting bodywork, actually. All I know for sure is that for a split second I understood everything and felt complete peace, but of course that truth left my grasp immediately. You would think that would have spurred me on to seek more of that truth, but personally I feel a huge wall of resistance to opening myself to real spiritual growth, to meditation or even reading about it, to the extent that I almost feel like I'm being interfered with, or maybe I'm just getting in my own way. Like a lot of people, I'm caught up in the day to day grind and feeling the big void at a mid-life point. I'm resistant to being taught, I guess, and often view with suspicion declarations of truth and "cultivation methods" set forth by others. I'm sure some of that is hangover resentments toward the childhood stuff, feeling betrayed that all I was taught and believed in wasn't really "truth," but also wonder if it's my Westerner's programming to have less respect and less belief in the supernatural, like I know it's a more Eastern way to believe there are spiritual teachers who can, in essence, instill a force within their students, so to speak, that they have almost supernormal abilities in that way, along with their years of study and practice.

I've been reading your posts in many of the forums for several years and always find them very insightful. I'm curious if you know anything about the practice of Falun Dafa. I think it's pretty big in China, with offshoots all over the world. I know the Chinese govt. calls it a cult and persecutes the followers, and I think the human rights abuses around that will be coming more into view soon. My boyfriend has practiced it for about 6 years after studying a lot of eastern philosophy all his life, and he feels like he's hit on something that works for him, and that this guy pretty much has the truth of the universe, as well as the ability to install these energy mechanisms in its followers. It's all very mystical, but he says most of it lines up with what he's read from many spiritual schools, as if everyone has had a piece of the truth, but this guy puts it all together and was basically sent here to help humanity. I asked him what if this guy is some kind of crazy megalomaniac, and he admitted he can't rule out the possibility, but decided he was going to approach it with a completely open mind and hasn't experienced anything but positive things from it so far (and frankly, it shows). It seems like a pretty rightous path - "truth, compassion and forbearance," and I've tried to get on board with it, largely for the sake of harmony in the relationship (I probably won't see him home till 1:00 A.M. tonight because he's off with a new practice group, and I'm "always invited," as he adds on more time with this and is gone more, or holed up alone practicing more - yes, you sense a little resentment at his increasing absence), but also, I feel like I need to choose a method of getting to my own higher truth and connecting with my soul on a regular basis, which I don't do now, and this one actually combines physical exercises with meditation, kind of like a high level Qi Gong, and the part about moving energy physically and the body being involved in it does resonate with me to a point. The whole ball of wax is like wild Science fiction and still a hard sell on me, but I have a lot of walls up, in spite of an inner knowing that nothing is what we think it is.

I'm just curious if you have any thoughts on all that??? Does anybody else know about this practice? I've only ever heard about it from the devotees, mainly by boyfriend and articles by practioners on their web sites, or from Master Li's books, and then a few naysayers in journalism articles that probably don't know enough about it to write it off as a weird cult. Still searching for viewpoints in the middle.....

Thanks a lot. I will go there right now and take a look.

I love that, and there's more than a grain of truth in it, I'm sure. Thanks.