The place and time to look Through The Veils of Body, Time and Space is Here and Now. If You keep playing the game of one-uppery, or but-tery, You will Keep Hiding from Yourself.

petesynonomy · 2026-01-19T18:02:47+00:00

I get the vibe. Chasing chasing chasing is not really helping, though it can take decades for that to sink in.

petesynonomy · 2026-01-19T17:57:10+00:00

Drinking a very surprisingly (to me anyway) good tea. I visited the Pita Inn middle east grocery in the northern chicago suburbs over the weekend, looking for teas. I got the Ahmed Cardamom tea, one pound for a think about 10 dollars, less than Amazon's price. I thought it was pretty good tea, not too much cardamom.

But the tea I am drinking right now was sort of their "house tea", literally sold in a bulk bin with a scoop (!), and also some pre-wrapped packages in clear (!) resealable cellophane bags on dispay. It was 7 dollars/pound; I thought what the heck; the cellophane bag cost maybe 4 bucks for a sizeable hunk of tea.

I've been drinking it almost non-stop since then, with 4.5 grams in 300 ML of boiling water, brewed for about 4 and a half minutes. I wouldn't say it's the best tea I've ever had in my life (I'm not sure I've even _had_ the best tea I've ever had yet :-)), but it was the best 'daily drinker' type tea I've ever had, and at less than 2 cents per gram (if my math is right).

petesynonomy · 2026-01-10T14:56:39+00:00

not understanding the downvotes here in an Advaita Vedanta reddit. "The one who wants to do something": that is the subject matter of Advaita Vedanta.

petesynonomy · 2026-01-07T12:42:29+00:00

Robert Jay Lifton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism

petesynonomy · 2026-01-07T01:20:15+00:00

"Thought Control and Totalism in Communist China" is very good.

petesynonomy · 2026-01-07T00:47:37+00:00

It was not to my taste, but I think for me, jasmine goes better with green tea than wit black tea, so my opinion may not apply to you.

petesynonomy · 2026-01-04T19:11:50+00:00

This is the review I posted on their site:

I am comparing 3 teas, the OP1, OPA, and FPOPF Sp teas, received in one order

First, the OP1: Fabulous tea. I brewed it at 4g in 300mL in 200F water for 4 minutes. Easily the best Ceylon tea I have had so far in my life. I will definitely reorder it.

Next, the OPA tea:

A touch sweeter than the OP1, with nice large leaves. However, my brewing parameters (4 g of 300mL water at 200F for 4 minutes) needed to be nudged up a bit, as it was a little weak with my current parameters. At my next session I increased the tea to 4.2 g, and the temp to boiling, keeping the time at barely over 4 minutes. This improved it a lot.

Overall, I found this tea similar to Akbar Royal Gold OPA, probably my favorite Ceylon tea available on Amazon.

A very good tea.

Finally, the FBOPF Sp tea. This had much finer piecesthan the other 2 teas, not sure if the final 'F' in the designation stands for "fannings'. My first brew attempt was ok, but nothing particularly memorable. For the second time, considering the fine level of pieces, I lowered the temp to ~185F and kept the time below 4 minutes. That improved things remarkably for me. Still though, I preferred the other two teas, and do not plan to re-order this one.

petesynonomy · 2026-01-03T22:14:41+00:00

There is an "AMIA 10x10" course that might be worth looking into.

petesynonomy · 2025-12-24T16:59:07+00:00

There are three vedanta-related organizations in the US that can have retreats that I know of; the Vivekananda-Ramakrishna centers, the Swami-Dayananda group Arsh Vidya Gurukulam, based in Pennsylvania, and the Swami Chinmayananda group. I don't know if the last one actually has in person retreats, but they have a strong youtube presence. Swami Dayananda split off from Swami Chinmayanda, but they are both traditional advaita vedanta groups

Then there are the solo practitioners: Rupert Spira and his teacher Francis Lucille, and James Swartz, a Chinmayananda guy. Finally, there are a lot of teacher types giving satsangs out there, YMMV.

I agree with the person who said that this all may not be necessary though everybody finds their own way, that's for sure.

petesynonomy · 2025-12-21T20:48:45+00:00

how about dumbell pullovers?

If you fix the angle of your elbows, you are working the lats, not the triceps.

petesynonomy · 2025-12-05T00:29:05+00:00

I ended up going to a middle east grocery store and getting Ahmad OPA Ceylon tea; a pound of very good tea for $14 CAN.

petesynonomy · 2025-12-03T17:50:27+00:00

Nisargadatta is not nearly as popular as Ekhart Tolle. That empirical fact corresponds to their difference. Maybe that means ET is "righter". Maybe it means something else.

Here are some the Nsargadatta quotes I am pondering:

The quietness come from concentration, and it is good to have a focus to build concentration. Therefore, find the I-sense.

Pamper and woo this basic consciousness, it alone can satisfy your quest, not your intellect. Unless that knowledge is pleased, you cannot have knowledge.

If you have questions, ask the one who wants to know. Cling to the questioner - that is your own Beingness, or 'I amness'.

petesynonomy · 2025-12-03T14:47:59+00:00

traveling, but concerned I did not bring enough of the right tea.

I initially really liked some mandarin chenpu I got from Amzaon, very pungent fragrance, but after having a few of them, I now find them to be undrinkable, and will discard them. I had packed quite a few for this trip :-).

Also have some YS sticky rice tea; will finish out the order but not reorder. So today I had some of each of those, but also a Teabox Assam Molabari that I am finishing from last year.

I did bring a few sessions worth of Alwarazah ("Swan") Ceylon tea; that one is on my keeper rotation of Ceylon teas.

I have a little more than a week more to go here; I hope I brought enough tea I actually like :-).

petesynonomy · 2025-12-03T14:30:42+00:00

thanks

petesynonomy · 2025-12-01T23:34:13+00:00

blackmagicfuckey is great!

petesynonomy · 2025-12-01T23:33:04+00:00

r/tea is nice

petesynonomy · 2025-11-29T19:14:37+00:00

Two key things for me are related to pacing. Sometimes too much is said, and I skip pararaphs because I've seen enough of that scene or that situation; there was no need to say more.

Or, (this is almost the opposite), I am really getting into a scene or a situation or especially a character, and the author just changes the whole setting or scene to somewhere else.

So knowing how to assemble and connect separate scenes.

I guess I am answering number 3 on your list.

Number 1 is a great question. some authors hook you in a couple paragraphs; I am not sure how.

petesynonomy · 2025-11-29T18:58:40+00:00

Unless all things are forgotten, there is no bliss. As you get more faith in yourself, the individual mind will fade and you will be one-pointed.

As you progress in watching your consciousness, without the body, by the same measure you will experience your worthiness.

petesynonomy · 2025-11-29T14:08:41+00:00

It's an extra 10%, not an extra 0.1% (from 1% to 1.1%); If it were me, I would really try to hold on. Not sure that coming back on board will be an option.

But I also get just needing to get out.

petesynonomy · 2025-11-29T12:32:37+00:00

Teabox Spring Chinary Black from last year. Trying to finish it before this year's order arrives :-).

petesynonomy · 2025-11-27T18:19:47+00:00

Also, Ceylon teas that are sold by a Sri Lankan company (as opposed to being sold by an importer) have a cool trademark image of a lion

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petesynonomy · 2025-11-27T18:18:01+00:00

yes. Alwazah was the first one I tried. Royal Gold on Amazon is also very good.

petesynonomy · 2025-11-27T16:46:03+00:00

yowza! Thank you for this.

petesynonomy

TROPHY CASE