The impatient spiritual seekers

Seekers of spiritual experience needs powerful unblocked energy. Though being spiritual, they should not be impatient, some are! These impatient seekers will more likely be those who are eager to seek " spiritual experience" for some selfish reasons, rather than those who seek "a spiritual foundation for a sound morality system for the benefits of others". In ancient Chinese, these seekers were sometimes labeled as "Non-Tao" (外道), and their practices could be potentially dangerous to the practitioners themselves, both physically and psychologically.

Our modern day secular society, being governed by the rule-of-law rather than religious-cum-morality codes, is a more fertile ground for breeding seekers of "pure spiritual experience" devoid from any moral obligation. Which, by itself, has nothing wrong by modern standards - legally, morally or spiritually. In short, it is right to be selfish!

In ancient China, there had been a period in which many Taoist alchemists seeking to prepare the Immortal elixir (外丹), seeking both physical Immortality and a "mythical experience of being immortal". It was most prevalent in the Tang Dynasty, resulting from the death of many from heavy metal poisoning, including a few Emperors. In modern times, psychotic drugs serve as an equivalent; though "respectable" spiritual seekers experiment with new elixirs, some with heavy metal overtones! A speedy way to "spirituality" with potential lethal effects.

Heightened emotional state can sometimes result in a surge of powerful energy. Both cold weather and powerful emotion can cause goosebumps; the natural follow-up response of both is shivering or shaking. As my previous post mentioned, the condition if properly controlled can lead to energy surge. Tibetan practitioners are fond of using chilling conditions to jump-start one's energy. Some Japanese Zen-practitioners like to meditate under a freezing waterfall. The benefit of cold-practice is that it can train one's mental strength too (every time is like dying and reborn). Needless to say Tibetans and Japanese are tough people! And also needless to say, such practice will not be favored by impatient spiritual seekers.

In ancient times, some Taoist practitioners did either one of these. The most common practice is taking cold showers. For example, the code-of-conduct of the famous Dragon-Gate Taoist group was said to forbid its practitioners to take hot showers (for fear of losing one's vitality - 走丹）. In "spiritual combat or miracle chop" (ShenDa: 神打), a heightened spiritual state, similar to some modern day kundalini practitioners, will be aroused; and through which strange behaviors will result, though the most common "demonstration" is withstanding knife from harming one's body (see my previous post on the practice HERE). It is a legitimate and honorable practice, but need to be done under straight guidance from a respectable teacher - not the cup of tea for the modern day impatient seekers. On the other hand, everybody can take a cold shower with some determination and practice. And I would reckon that most impatient spiritual seekers will not have the patience or courage to take even a cold shower.

In modern days, the arousal of energy through emotional arousal is quite common, for different purposes (including training for insurance salesmen!). There are various kinds of ritual dancing (or whatever movements that the coach can dream of), fire-walking, pouring of cold water upon one's head, laughing, uninhibited emotional outburst, even "controlled" verbal abuse! Some are run by "professional trainers" (with or without proper training in clinical psychology) and some run by self-proclaimed spiritual leaders of whatever orientation. Modern day impatient seekers seem to love these emotion arousal practices.

Last but not least is the use of (erotic) sexual energy. For some impatient seekers this seems to be a one stone-killing-two-birds strategy. These practices had been rather prevalent in ancient China, particular among the rich (and lazy) people. Though, these practices had been condemned by mainstream Taoists as "Non-Tao" (外道), there has been, and still are, impatient seekers using it to generate energy (please refer to my previous post HERE).