Spiritual Portal

I wonder if any of you have ever felt you have fallen on the spiritual path and why that might occur? Perhaps it sounds like a dark subject. Somebody once told me i had fallen on the path. Someone i respected. What can we do about such things? What do we have to learn from them? How do these things occur? i wonder if you have any responses to this.

I fell my whole life until recently. Wasted so much time, but I suppose it is all a learning experience.

How does it occur, well I think part of it is lusting after sense pleasures, desires, "He is full with contentment who absorbs all desires within, as the brimful ocean remains unmoved (unchanged) by waters entering into it---not he who lusts after desires" --Gita chap II verse 70

What can you do, It's not easy to remain even minded, calm, and live in society. Meditate more, even Babaji said that to Lahiri, (how many people meditated more than Lahiri?)

I don't think it does any good to let it bother you, in all honesty, I don't think I could ever say anything like that to anyone in a serious way, that's a pretty low blow. Makes me wonder about the person that said it.

It is a bit different if you ask. Sometimes the world seems to squeeze in on us and we loose the state of consciousness we once reached. It is just something to witness and be aware of not something to obsess about. We just keep reaching, keep practicing and learn from our errors. 

It appears to me that instead of a straight path most of us take a quite a few side roads on our journey. We may get involved with people who are not helping us in our spiritual aspirations or perhaps we get discouraged at times and find ourselves slipping. We may even find that material conditions become more and more demanding and we let these conditions discourage our efforts. We also can be brought into tempting situations that we find  difficult not to get involved in. These are some of the ways that I see as setbacks in our spiritual life.

Lying
in-authenticity
trying to be something i'm not
lack of discrimination
denial
imitating rather than understanding
un-addressed psychological blocks
fear
superstition
lust/pornography/masturbation (losing vital force)
philosophical misunderstanding
arrogance
nervousness/restlessness (more a symptom than a cause)
aversion to "negativity" (reactivness)


it's not easy unraveling all of the threads that keep us bound...

great contribution Brock..... thanks

Those are all in the past. You could make the opposite list too.

I get sidetracked, or tempted, all the time, for me the key is realizing at that moment that it is a sidetrack. No sense in dwelling on past, even if it was just a moment ago, it's done, you see it for what it was, and makes it easier next time it happens, for me anyway.

Still there are times when even I know it for what it is, I end up entertaining it anyway. Somehow I ignore the right path even when I know what the right path is. We're just not perfect, but realizing all this is half the battle won.

i went out of body once and looked at my reflection. i had black molting wings. i've fallen and will fall again. but it isn't necessarily a dark subject. i suppose it's how you look at it

Hello and I'm being serious, why would black molting wings signify you had fallen?

spiritimage,
that's how i understood it at the time.
 ....

OK, I'm just being curious. I think if it happened to me, I'm not sure I would take it that way. I mean, any sort of dark vision, or spiritual feeling, etc., if I experience that, it just proves God is there, so for example if I ever see a dark vision or something like that, it just proves to me that there is also Light, can't have one without the other, so these "bad" spirits or whatever are just defeating their own purpose, they are proving God. For the record I haven't really seen anything like that, maybe because of the way I think about this.

in my previous post, i've stated... i suppose it's how you look at it. i don't consider falling a dark subject but perhaps from one perspective, see it as "standard procedure." my experience, wasn't dark. i'm actually fond of it. to me, i'm just learning things about myself in unique ways. like anyone else. from my mortal understanding... falling from grace will always be if i'm making rules in which to follow. why ? because i'm not always conscious of this fact....there are infinite ways to experience god. with god/of god. my limitors are set in place when i'm defining from what i think i know. not what is. so i'll break these rules because i'll find they aren't always in line with how i wish to live. some consider this a form of falling. being weak willed. other times i see it as being curious... light and dark... you're right. these things are measured on the same spectrum. i suppose we go through different stages and what was once considered wrong is now seen through a different light. even having fallen can be seen as bliss or perfect dependant where you are with yourself and/or understanding of your own life.

That's a good point, SpiritImage. There are plenty of people who don't even believe there is anything beyond the material plane at all. Perceiving that one is in the dark is itself a kind of "light".

I have never had any of those experiences either nor do I want to have them. I think what Hippo describes are subconscious impressions. I don't want to offend him or be unfriendly, but I think they are only about as helpful as anything else the subconscious mind produces.

Of course, I could be totally wrong because, as I said, I have never had those experiences.

Very much of your post can also not be estimated as you have put a blue background with blue text. If this was intentional, though, I dig it.

Just curious, normally I don't associate, unless I have to, with anyone who is not helping.

Are you involved in circumstances where you are voluntarily or involuntarily placed in these positions for a length of time that present these problems?

brock, none taken. thank you for your consideration. i work closely with my subconscious and have always been fond of dreams and the like. lately my focus is not on where the message comes from but the message itself. :)

For me; there are plenty of opportunities for friends. Which I am grateful for. The question is: How do I choose my time? In the past there has also been plenty of opportunity for family socializing. The question is again; What do these encounters amount to? We also have romantic encounters in life that are unfavorable in the sense that we are being used for a different purpose than what we need and want to give. We always have a choice. Although attachment and desire for a certain material life style can easily destroy  our spiritual aspirations and years later we can look back and see that the times we spent with other spiritual seekers were the most fruitful.

We may even come into contact with those who profess spiritual seeking but in fact their actions are far from their words. Sometimes we may even find that someones heart has turned to stone because of their connection and commitment to people who destroy their friendship with you. We eventually recognizing cross currents causing ripples in our consciousness and monopolizing our awareness.

Jitendra