Alternative lifestyle (spiritual)

In this video I talk about the economical and social sacrifices I made in order to pursue self therapy full time.

When I was employed I spent a large part of my after bills income on self help books and reading the works of the ancient and modern spiritual masters.
I also saved for meditation and self therapy retreats and seminars. Also, liberal amounts of the highest grade selectively bred Mendocino cannabis.

Instead of taking my lithium or prozac like a good compliant patient who sees her therapist once a week what I did was,

I sought out the spiritual gurus, practiced meditation and self medicated with simple herbs.

Years later I was able to do away with both the need for the gurus and the drugs. My sanity and spiritual stability is a product of stillness meditation.

During those years I did go see movies I liked but I swore off TV ( Seinfeld? was that a guy or a show?) and partying and casual socializing and I lived very poorly and simply in order to finance my spiritual education. I certainly had nothing better to do!

Many of my friends either graduated from college or dropped out of them. Some of my friends 'settled down' at age 25-30 and had their first children while managing their respective careers. My friends were becoming Head of their workplace Departments and getting home mortgages and being mothers and father and gaining all those life experiences and I had to let go any need to compare my life, to strive to compete. I had to overcome numerous societal and consumer compulsions. I had to not care that people were moving beyond my experience, they were marching down their paths while I spent all my time meditating by the river's edge. What I found years later was that these people were still plagued by some of the most basic spiritual and philosophical problems that to me where freshmen level meditation experiences. People advanced their careers and bought their cars and drove their kids to school but never could answer a pointed questio n like "who are you?", "what do you want?"

When people answer those questions, they immediately identify themselves by their activities and responsibilites. I am a manager of such and such, I drive this car and send my kid to that school. People believe they are the things they buy and the clothes they wear. When pressed consistantly about why would anyone go through school, get a job, a spouse, and raise a family as thought. People will blurt out the honest answer sometimes without even realizing the implications.

"My parents expect me to be..", " I am supposed to.." "Doesn't everyone?" "It is expected in my family that I..." "That's what people do in a society!"

People come into this world already beating to someone else's drum. When kids go through school and pick out a career they imagine they want to do some such thing all their life. They are appeasing the expectations of the parental units who themselves are under peer and societal expectation to raise their kids to perform and dance to the beat just like dear dad and mom. It often takes years, decades, for people to fully realize they have spent their whole lives doing what other people expect of them, rather than follow the calling of their heart.

Given the sheer quantity of people still being churned out of the society mill, there is no shortage of people prepared to carry on society exactly as they have been trained to do.

I didnt think anyone would notice if I just sort of slipped under the radar and lived a life of personal and spiritual evolution and mastery.

I remember on 9-11 I was sitting in my car having taken half a day off from work I was down by the park listening to the news before heading down the trails to do tai chi all afternoon

Technorati: abbot guide guru meditation monk nun retreat ritual self spiritual therapy