tsuki

I really want to chime in, but I have nothing to say. Just saying hi to old friends . Just look what happened to her while you were gone @Zweistein! She sounds so level-headed now.

Can you summarize the process of using I Ching, or give pointers to resources?

Compassion stems from your willingness to recognize yourself within another being. Love is more general and is the subtle force that guides you through your life. You can be compassionate towards a person, or towards an animal by seeing the context in which you are basically the same. Being compassionate towards a spoon is difficult (but still possible). Saying that you love, or don't love another person is a misconception to some degree. You do not love. Love does you.

@How to be wise If you really care about happiness, then don't you first need to know what it is? Without truth, we have no idea what happiness and misery are.

This may have been the most intensive three weeks in the history of my professional career, psychologically speaking. The deadline for the tool that we are making is absurd. I am given a task that nobody understands and is critical to this project. Last time I did something similar I was given twice as much time. This task requires time consuming computations. The computations may fail without any useful errors that point to how to fix the issue. So, basically - everybody is losing their shit and I have to be calm and walk aimlessly because my computer is doing calculations for a few hours. For the past two weeks I've been meditating, contemplating and self-inquiring during work to keep myself occupied. This week my mind decided that it is a perfect opportunity to emotionally shit-test my mindfulness during this havoc. I seem to have passed the test and the work is going better than I anticipated (for now). I feel like a different person altogether after all of this. Like a titan, or something.

Sigh, okay - off I go. But before that: here's a special one-time offer. I never do this. Ever. I can add you to my ignore list on the forum. Nobody gets there. Not even people that piss me off. You would be there forever. Just you. What do you say?

@Athemnajar It almost sounds like you are upset by the fact that working is not hard for you anymore. The question is: do you have a good life? If yes - then why struggle to struggle? If not - then cultivate a peaceful mind. When it comes to growth: we all grow straight to the coffin. Why the hurry? You cannot outpace yourself.

Well, in that case: maybe I can help you? I get that a lot from my wife .

And what if our memories were different? Did my memory change, or did the other person's memory change? We could arrive at agreement if it was a peaceful situation, but what if it was in court and I was supposed to defend myself? (These are rhetorical questions) I'm also thinking about more fundamental things than just situations. I'm thinking about this feeling of continuity of experience. About change. The experience of time. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Endless_knot https://www.wikiwand.com/en/7₄_knot

@now is forever If I knew that, I wouldn't be this lost. I know nothing.

@now is forever Frankly, I'm so lost that I may be beyond help.

Thank you for your kind words.

What does it mean that I remember something? How is it possible to be familiar with anything? let's look at the above picture. It is obvious that the two sides of the tree are different. This difference is apparent because they both appear in the visual field simultaneously and I assume I am an unchanging reference frame. But what happens if I add time to the equation? How do I know that the picture did not change between consecutive observations? Because I think that I remember what it looked like. Memory is also rooted in comparison. I can compare what I experience to what I remember. I can always perceive difference or sameness across time, but can I really tell what changed? Memory is not constant after all - I remember new things and forget old, so is it really so strange to pose such a question? So, is it that the picture is the same across consecutive observations, or does it change along with my memory? In order to tell whether my memory did not change - I would have to compare it to something. In order to tell the difference, I would have to have the memory of my memory. But how do I tell if my memory changed, or that my memory of my memory did? I would have to have memory of memory of memory and it would not help one bit because it just delegates the problem.

I find that relative understanding (explaining things in terms of other things) is nonsensical. If that was the case, then you could never understand anything new, unlike anything you've ever seen. That is the reality for most people, as they cannot manipulate themselves but are in reaction to their own image. The moment that you can change yourself, relative understanding is nonsensical. There is no such thing as human attributes when you are a baby. Absolute understanding presupposes relative understanding.

@now is forever And you found the middle one?

I find that honesty is central to wisdom. How do you benefit from having privacy and how does it contradict having nothing to hide?

It is absolutely impossible. Just impossible. How can something know itself?! It's just like it is with language. The moment we have a concept of 'language' and can talk about talking is the moment that nothing makes sense anymore. If we can define what a word is, all words become meaningless. Because what is a definition other than a bunch of words? In order to understand language you have to understand language. But how did the first word come about? Did somebody point a finger and say 'you'? No! Pointing a finger is also language and you cannot point a finger at pointing a finger to explain it. The only possible conclusion to make is that understanding is a priori and it cannot be understood in terms of anything else. Understanding is not rooted in thinking. Thinking is what is being understood. What does this mean? Does it mean that I cannot understand understanding? If that was true, then why does it feel like I've made progress?

Yesterday I meditated in front of a mirror. My realization was that just as animals freak out in front of it, I freak out in front of the mind.

No response from Leo would be able to convince anybody, given this question. If he really was a master manipulator, would he admit it? If he did admit it, then only to fuck with your head.

Here's a funny thought: When I talk with a friend, I know where to look to see where the sound is coming from. When I read this text, the mental chatter is associated with this sight. However, when the usual idle mind-chatter occurs: there is no place to look at that has this directionality associated with it. I think that I think "from" the direction that is always opposite to where I look. This is why I think that I "think from inside of my head". Because the inside of my head is always in the opposite direction to where I look. It is the direction of "not-that".

This is very important: Manas-vijnana It describes the three last consciousnesses of eight and their relationships to each other. Specifically, it describes the difference between Yogacara and Zen views on these matters.

Hmm: peer pressure, habitual tendencies, intoxicants, infatuation, immaturity, general lack of consciousness. Who said it's your fault? It's your responsibility though. Sure, let's see if that helps.

Here is a talk related to karma that explains that it is neither personal, nor collective. Karma is related to storehouse-consciousness by seeds (Bīja). If this talk is taken seriously, then it seems like shadow work is indeed compatible with Buddhism and is a method of raising consciousness. --- Interesting fragment about storehouse-consciousness. It seems to imply that it is the base form of consciousness that holds potential energy in the form of seeds (Bīja). It is also transformed into other seven kinds of consciousness. So - there is only one kind that changes form. It seems to be compatible with the talk in the previous video.

In this video, Thich Nhat Hanh explains consciousness (Vijñāna) as having twofold structure. What he designates as 'the mind' is what seems to come together with the sense bases during contact. The storehouse (ālāyavijñāna) is what retains imprints of previous experiences that condition our experience. This whole consciousness thing still seems to me like something logically inferred and not directly experienced. I've been trying to experience it somehow and when I shift focus away from the senses, they flicker and alternate in to each other. For example, when I become mindful and my attention focuses on sight, I eject myself out of it and it enters sound. Then, I try to eject myself out of that and it goes someplace else. It is funny when I notice these moments that I've been focusing on sounds and try to observe where did sight 'go'. Sight then reappears, and yet - something still seems to be missing. It's like consciousness is some kind of computational power and I don't have enough of it to perceive all of the senses at the same time.