Hi Foxtse

I have always been like that. There's alot of places I don't want to go to and people there at those places I know I should avoid.

Usually I have to go to places like you mentioned for different reasons, usually work related. Most people in the area know me as a musician anyway and understand that's why I'm at certain places to begin with, so it's a bit easier to deal with it as opposed to people assuming I'm there becasue of a superficial reason.

Because so many people know me we can all have a good time. It's something like, finding affinity with our similarities between people and me, rather than avoiding all our differences - if that makes sense. We all have the life atom, a monad, that we share in common.

There's always a choice to do something or not.
I felt like avoiding things was running away from them, so you learn to deal.

There are occasions though, that I really have to avoid someone or someplace. It's hard, especially if the wrong type of person comes on to you and you really don't know what to do.
Sometimes I find that dealing with it with a sense of humor makes it easier, like making it a point to pick my nose or something so everyone can see it and will leave me alone, If I know it will work.

At a certain point you just stop caring I guess. If there's enough internal strength to not conform to what everyone else does, then it's easy.

I've found in my case, that strength can be built from internal work. Like when I'm starving the egos, I feel alot stronger. I can revolve against those animal vibrations.
You have o put up the constant effort though. If you fall back even a little, you can definately tell or experience the egos strengthening as you get a little weaker or "drained."

So basically, if we are serious and dedicated to our own purpose of existing to self-realize, then it all kinda works out but it's not always in a predictable way.

Hope that helps and doesn't add to confusion. Let me know if there's anything I can re-state in my posts that is best said in a more simple way.

Hi foxtse,

The activities that we enjoy are strongly related to the sorts of inner states in which we spend our days. And our friendships are primarily a result of affinities - same sense of humour, same class at school, etc.

If we start to change internally, by trying to be more aware then the activities that used to bring us pleasure like going out and drinking, going to the cinema, etc. can start to seem empty. Indeed I think your friend's terminology of "vibrating differently" is a nice way to put it.

But that doesn't meant we can't be happy; we just need to find activities more suited to the consciousness so that we feed it and can move forward spiritually. What I found when I started to leave behind going to parties, etc., is that spiritual practices like astral projection practices, meditation, awareness walks, mantras, listening to music like Beethoven, reading works of the Masters, and so forth were wonderful. They were really enjoyable and they filled the time that I'd ordinarily be off feeding egos with something magical.

As far as friends go, that can be tough. I felt a little lonely for some time, since I had less in common with many of my friends.

I still was fortunate enough to have some friendships that were "more spiritual" and I managed to spend more time with these friends; we'd go out to eat at some restaurants, we'd go to the gym, or something else less ego-driven. Just because we may not have friends who are into Gnosis doesn't mean we can't have friends ;) And some time alone is not the end of the world if we make the best use of it.

Now after a few years and some incredible luck I've got some very good friends here who are into Gnosis.

It is very slow and it can be difficult, but you're making the right efforts and I'm sure everything will work out for you in these regards if you keep at it.

All the strength!

Mike

Thanks guys. I do enjoy when I'm going to a party where there's many people I know, it makes me feel good and why not, I even drink with them.

It just felt different yesterday that the only people I knew were my friend and his girlfriend and the place was full of what seemed as bad vibes for me.

I just hope I get to find more people alike, since I'm feeling lonely.

Is the way to enlightment supposed to bring happyness at some point of our lives, or it is just a burden to deal with the problems of this life in order to assure a better one?

One of my most favorite places to hang out is Borders book store. They have people come in and play music on Friday & Saturday nights, not to mention all those books, movies & music. It may seem kind of nerdy to you, but some of the hottest women are nerds, lol. I think you may be surprised at what may be hiding under a quiet, plain exterior.

If you want meet people who are into stuff like you, then you gotta start hanging out at more intellectual places, rather than "meat markets". Although, once you let go of your obsession of meeting someone (which is an ego hard at work, I think), you'll probably find the person when and where you least expect it. I think you should concentrate on your own spirituality for now. Since you're feeling lonely, it's obvious that's what you're supposed to be doing anyway.

Good Luck,
Dusty

Hi foxtse,

You may be noticing those bad vibes as you become more perceptive to the spiritual.

After getting into these teachings for a while I had an experience where I was in a bar area, only for about 2 minutes. The whole place had a rather bad atmosphere and after leaving I felt quite negative for a few hours. The atmosphere there was like a poison.

Certainly there should be happiness along the way. When we are aware and truly acting through the consciousness then we can experience states of peace and happiness. It's only really when the egos arise that our happiness is taken away.

Of course increasing our consciousness (and our capacity for happiness along with it) involves facing the darkness of the egos.

All the best!

Mike

Hi Foxste...

Here's my take on it. It may or may not be helpful to you. I think people do what they do for a myriad reasons and to go into a public area & see all the people there as somehow shallow or lesser beings is doing at least some of them an injustice.

It's quite possible that there are those there who also don't know where to go to socialise with 'higher' oriented beings.

But, beyond all that, there is this. Love is All. Love of fellow Man is right up there as the primary purpose along with the Golden Rule. We should be stable enough in our growth to be able to hold our boundaries in the real world, not just in special circumstances. Otherwise, where lies the point of Advancement?

To be who you are and still move through the world, to know what people are like and still love seems to be more a sign of a higher level of Beingness than shown by one who shies away from others as somehow 'unclean' because they might contaminate the self.

And you might just be cutting out someone who can be your partner in Life. A sad thought, but maybe she is wandering those places also looking for someone who isn't the 'norm'?

Namaste

** Never doubt there is Truth; just doubt that you have it

Thank you guys, I'm also think I'm having an obsession on finding someone, how do I get rid of that ego?

Hi foxtse,

The technique to eliminate that ego (or any other) is covered in the Gnostic Wisdom course. Over time if we keep strong with the elimination technique then we will notice changes and the egos will eventually be eliminated.

Aside from that technique, it can help a lot to meditate upon the ego or do an analysis of the ego - this way we can see what situations give rise to the ego, in which centres it manifests, how it gets its food, etc. This then makes our battles easier because we have more insight.

As a further note, I know how easy it is to worry about finding someone, but we mustn't let this blind us to the spiritual work we can and still need to do in the present.

All the strength!

Mike

Hi foxtse,

That's really good to hear that you've been making changes to elevate the inner states you find yourself in.

It was the same for me when I tried to get serious about gnosis also. Changing always involves a period of being imbalanced. We have to to get rid of some things that are inferior, replace them with more spiritual things, and it leads to the feeling of discomfort because stuff isn't the same.

It's good to have faith though. For sure if you keep changing, going after what is more spiritual, then this happens with your relationships to other people. After we go through the period of imbalance, then we cultivate more spiritually helpful relationships, and it really helps to have that faith in the meantime that it will happen.

Just think about the new things/people that are in store for you in the future, may be uncomfortable right now but what you have to gain is sooo much better, definitely worth fighting for!!

Dara