tsuki

Are you aware of what a symbol is? Symbol is something it is not. Gravity is a symbol. It is used to evoke a distinction and this distinction is invented. What is, is. It is, without us humans being aware of it. Babies know nothing about gravity, they have no symbol that corresponds to this distinction. That does not make them float away, and yet - symbol 'gravity' is imaginary. There is no person once awareness becomes aware of itself. The person is a delusion, but this delusion is as real as it gets when the person is still there. Even if isness is more fundamental (basic) than personhood - it is not 'more true' by any measure. Hahaha. I know that the idea of hierarchy triggers you. Self discovery cannot be misguided because it ends in directionless present moment. Why is the moon made of cheese rather than carrots? Self-discovery here is the realization that my question is based on misguided assumptions. Nothing is ever realized by making-real of something that is not here. Realization can only occur by seeing past delusions that cover something that already is. 'One' could not see past what-is. It is not attributable to anybody. It happens through grace. Removal of any delusion is not attributable to anybody because the person is a delusion. And again, denial of hierarchy. Hierarchies do not imply intrinsic moral value, but contraction, boundedness. Thoughts convey meaning that is non-verbal. They point towards something inexpressable through language. Something more basic. Look at your hand. 'Look at your hand' is a thought, but you actually looking at your hand is the meaning. I'm having trouble understanding your term 'write-off'. Do you mean this as something that hides complexity, or what? Gravity is not nonsense. I suspect that the word 'imaginary' is emotionally loaded for you, you perceive it as something dismissive. I do not mean it that way.

Switch to do-nothing meditation and do that during your workday. Observe what your mind is doing during everyday situations. The point of meditation is not to sit on a pillow. It is to realize that your life is an act of meditation! Apply psychology during your workday. Observe your coworkers and create models. See their blind spots and help them work these through. This one fits into the first paragraph. See how your insights about reality allow you to think about everyday matters more clearly. The above-mentioned list of improvements should give you a steady stream of insights to write down after you're done with your work.

Hey, you are going to be alright. Ground yourself in your body. Surround yourself with things you feel important. This is going to pass. We care about you.

Awakening can be thought of as removing ignorance. Ignorance stems from finitude (being bound by something greater), and this finitude is two-fold: First phase is about removal of mistaken beliefs about reality that cloud your perception of truth. These beliefs are created because you are bound by the ego and can't look past your identification. You only care about 'yourself' and your mind is severely limited in what it is able to consider. This 'psychological clensing' ultimately leads to the second phase - ego death. The second phase is about removal, or seeing past, the ego and finding new ways of relating with the world as you. This is when non-duality starts and is what I found to be generally referred to as 'enlightenment'. The third phase deals with the deeper limitation that stems from your 1st ignorance (egoic perception). By perceiving yourself egoically, you have contaminated your body in various ways that predispose you to certain behaviors. The process of dealing with this limitation, ignorance, is cleansing. I would imagine, this cleansing ultimately leads to physical death, probably through mahasamadhi. The reason to not kill body is dependent on the stage you're currently in. If you're still bound by the ego, then you are so ignorant that you have no idea what you're doing. Literally. As you remove your mistaken beliefs and are able to see past your ego - the life gradually improves until it literally becomes pure bliss. At that point, there is no reason whatsoever to kill yourself because this place is heaven already and you're going to see what physical death is like anyways. Not going through all of that and killing yourself outright is done out of ignorance. Killing yourself through cleansing is not something that is done out of fear, hate, suffering and so forth. It is a natural process that is lead by your desire to feel better. Obviously, I'm not physically dead, so it's a speculation on my part. It is however an extrapolation heavily grounded in experience.

First, you were framing imagination as 'unreal' and dismissing it. Now, you're dismissing 'objective reality' because you can't distinguish it from imagination? Stop dismissing things and creating hierarchies of importance. You are not imagining your body, but imagination is not less real than "objective reality". Keep taking care of your body.

Keep it slow and remember that if what I'm saying is true, then it was true even if you were ignorant of it. It changes nothing (if it really is the case). You can always keep on living like you've always been living. Homeostasis will take care of you.

If thoughts can bring up absolutely anything, then what stops you from imagining that you are a separate entity? Thoughts derive their freedom from the nature of the mind and that nature is derived from absolute infinity. Notice that you are bound in distinction between 'thoughts' and 'reality'. Where does 'reality' go when you think, imagine, etc? Where does the room go, when you remember (visualize) the experience of having a breakfast yesterday?

It means exactly what you want it to mean. This is hilarious. Notice that when you are imagining these realities, they are as real as the 'objective reality' you are seeing. They are so real that you freak out! You are creating these realities on a whim, just like that. Don't dismiss them as 'imaginary' simply because you can't touch them. When you are immersed in these 'imaginary realities', where does the 'objective reality' go? YOU ARE ABSOLUTE INFINITY.

You are trying to 'realize absolute infinity", which is getting somewhere you are not right now. Absolute infinity is ABSOLUTE, you get that? It is not somewhere else, it is not dependent on anything else. It is absolute. It is here, now. It was always here, it will always be here. Don't try to imagine what it's like. It's HERE, but you're missing it. Sigh... the state from which this very question originates? You do not know what absolute infinity is and you are imagining things about it. Then, you react to those images and think "how does that impact me? THAT IS SCARY!" and freak out. Return to the empty present moment and look for absolute infinity.

Stop imagining things and return to not knowing. If absolute infinity is the absolute truth, then it is true absolutely, regardless of point of reference. It is true, was always true and will always be true. By 'getting there', you are not changing anything. All you are doing is removing things that obscure your view and shedding ignorance.

@Jack River On the personal level, gravity is real. Jump and see. Then, the person is aware of the mind's workings and gravity is a concept on top of reality. On this level, gravity is imaginary. When awareness looks past the personhood and sees itself as isness, the question is answered because it is misguided. The mind is a second-order phenomenon that is not equipped to resolve its own issues. Looking past isness, it is realized that both isness and the ego (that has concepts such as gravity) happen in the mind of God. On this level, isness is imaginary, ego is imaginary, and the concept of 'gravity' that the ego imagines, is imaginary as well. However, that does not mean that gravity does not exist. It exists because it is imaginary.

Greed is a human instinct. The only thing that matters is how we align it.

The present moment is the nature of things, and it is invariant. Full stop. It does not come from anywhere and has no direction. Nothing ever happened and nobody did it. There is only change. The ego reacts to things, but it is not apart from the whole. It is in harmony. There is a definite yang that plays with yin and it is not just a matter of tracing the boundary between the two.

Addiction is relative to the amount of complexity the mind can handle. Some people fail to see that they are addicted to alcohol, and some are genuinely concerned about their sugar intake. Both have the potential to ruin lives (diabetes), but some are much more potent in diluting one's clarity and require more decisive measures. Honestly, I also hesitate when posting things here. I wish it was common knowledge that 'high' conscious resources are relative to the point of view of the poster. Maybe it would be a better idea if we used some kind of metric, like self-assessed spiral dynamics stage in the title? @Leo Gura Thank you for posting the AA reference @Bill W.

@Barna I see two ways to approach this. One way is from the egoic POV: 'how can I ask questions at all?', meaning: 'my inner dialog is triggered by curiosity, and this curiosity is non-verbal'. The ego does not ask questions in this sense - it verbalizes its reaction to something that is not attributable to it. It is not possible to say what is curiosity, because language is a second-order phenomena that is built on top of non-verbal stimuli. These phenomena originate 'abroad', from 'beyond' of the boundary of egoic identification, whatever it is. If you consider yourself to end at the boundary of your skin, then curiosity may be triggered by another person's behavior or something new that the Ego stumbled upon. On the most basic level, the ego is an invention of the Universe, just as @ajasatya says and is the illusory boundary between yin and yang spinning in infinite hermeneutic cycle. On a more phenomenological level, curiosity is when the subjective world "freezes", "suspends", and leaves us out of the flow. To answer a question is to return to this flow, to stop being interrupted. Knowledge on the most basic level is simply - doing. Being present, thoughtless, is the highest possible level of embodiment (mastery) in this context.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr8ziBzqZlGAvv4krfAAORQ https://www.westga.edu/administration/profile.php?emp_id=165 Humanistic psychology, phenomenology, existentialism, some talks on consciousness and psychedelics, comedy.

What do you consider 'self actualization work'?

Thank you @Nahm, I really appreciate hearing that from you.

My fucking god you are a one stubborn miserable man. I love you . Survival as an individual human being is not just predicated on your ability to gather food. We do not form groups just because it's easier to hunt, but because we're miserable if we don't. Some of our needs create loopholes that can be exploited to break out of this zero-sum game. For example, you actually have a need to feel that you are needed by other people. Take me for example. I have all of my basic needs met. I have steady job, a roof over my head, food on my plate and a loving relationship with my wife. I'm safe. I could go on like this until I die of old age, but I know for a fact that without fulfilling the need to feel needed I will get depressed. So, I come here and genuinely try to help people so that I can feel good. You get that? Genuinely helping others can make you feel good and help others. That is only a zero-sum game if you assume that emotional well-being does not contribute to your happiness. It is exactly the opposite - you feel miserable because you are hungry. Hunger in itself does not make you suffer - your emotions do. These emotions are connected to paradigms such as 'survival of the fittest', or 'I'm gonna go to hell if I'm not a good person'. You can master your emotions to such an extent that you will starve to death with a genuine smile on your face. Really fucking happy. Just imagine that. Like I said - people do not know their own needs and how to fulfill them. They deal with their suffering by 'giving it away', trying to push it unto others. That does not work, it sours your emotional environment and is a bad strategy in the long run because it creates resonances. It is certainly feasible to use violence (physical, emotional) to change people's behavior if this behavior is too destructive, but that takes uncommon amounts of wisdom to pull off. Most people lack even basic self-awareness and that probably includes your parents, coworkers, teachers, bosses and so forth. If they really discriminate against you, then know that you are not the one that suffers the most - they do - and they are doing it to themselves out of ignorance. The problem is that your paradigms may very well delude you into believing that they discriminate against you and you can't be sure that this is really the case. It may be the case that you are actually unskilled at some things and people are trying to tell you that. They may sincerely care for you and try to get you to act, but you can't recognize that care because your baseline experience is too miserable. You may push them away by getting stuck in your head and not feeling the emotions "they" create in you. You haven't yet got to the point where you can take care of your own basic needs. Get there and you will feel much better and less in need of another person's company. That is the place from which you may find someone to have a relationship with. I know it's a lot to take in, but know that we're here for you and we will talk with you. I highly suggest starting a journal in the journal section and asking someone to be your accountability partner. I can do that if you want. Document each day of your life and the exact measures that you took to make the next one a tiny bit better. Baby steps and you will get out.

I was a seeker of Truth before I knew that there is such a thing as a 'path'. Around 5-6 years ago when I understood that science gives no definite answers to my questions I turned to philosophy. While reading Heidegger's Being and Time and inquiring into phenomenology of my being, I had a two-week long something that I later learned to be ego death. At that point I had no idea what had happened and began studying psychology and started psychotherapy. Some time after stabilizing my psyche I stumbled across Leo's videos about meditation and started practicing irregularly I learned about the path, enlightenment, and started studying mysticism. Mystical experiences kept occurring periodically. What I would consider my core practice is contemplation, becoming directly conscious of what something is. That usually requires sincere description of what I think of it and seeing if it is actually the case. That leads to 'enlightenment experiences'. Ultimately, all practices collapse into one indecribable thing which is best called 'present moment'. Few months ago, with contemplation, I became conscious of what I am, what the other is, what the world is and what is God. Fireworks were spectacular and I 'fell' into absolute nothingness which is absolute infinity. Recently I tried LSD for the second time with the intention of finding absolute love. The substance did deliver.

@How to be wise Fame is actually an egoic attachment and a huge pain in the ass otherwise. It is the price one has to pay for having big impact if that is something that s/he pursues.

@Zigzag Idiot I have only been exposed to his teachings through the glossary, but I'm very interested in diving deeper. Which book of his would you recommend as a good starting point for me? I think I'm capable enough to go for the most essential, central one. The alchemy of freedom is very intriguing.

It is a transitory phase, an apex, after which there is a new stable plateau where something new emerges. This transfiguration is not attributable to you, since you are aware that there is no you. It is the momentum of the path that was started by something that is already gone. Let yourself go and flow along with it. Beware: do not discard and demonize your heart. Your heart is sincere in caring for the mind that is dying. The bullet is already on its way and your life is flashing before your eyes. This will pass. Let it all go. Keep talking about what you're afraid of, I'm here for you.

Because there is more. @Pouya Keep rockin' man, I'm so happy for you.

That is a very nuanced question, and the simplest answer is this: Because they are not in control of their own faculties and are unskillfully trying to cope with their own suffering. We were all born with no instruction manual in our hands and rely on our parents' wisdom to become happy human beings. If your parents are not skilled enough to be happy, and teach you that understanding of the world, you will not be happy as well. In that case, you have to make effort to find a good instruction manual, or research and write one. That is not something most people are interested in, but philosophy, psychology, science and religion are. Consider the fact that no matter who you are, and what accomplishments you have, there will be a point in history of the universe that no human will remember you. The best you can do is to survive in the collective memory until we go extinct as a species or evolve into something beyond recognition. The point of life is not to build a nice shiny tombstone, because all tombstones turn to ash eventually. The point of life is to exercise your care about the world and live sincerely. The fact that you suffer tells you that you do, in fact, care. Consider the possibility that everyone else is genuinely convinced that the world works in a certain way and act on it. How many people you know deeply enough to understand the paradigm they operate from? How do you know that survival is the paradigm that people believe in? Do you perhaps use this paradigm to feel superior by possessing greater understanding of the world? You are using the term 'zero sum game', but I'm willing to bet you have not read a single book on game theory. It would be pretty embarrassing if you have not even looked that term up on wikipedia, now would it? I just looked that term up and stumbled across zero-sum thinking. Please study it. The world is not a zero-sum game. Notice that both 'good' and 'bad' are relative to the choice of scale that you made. A person may be good at scoring with women because he ignores their emotional well-being. He is, at the same time good at scoring and bad at empathy. You are the one that chooses the scale in which you grade him, and if you reduce that person to a single 'good' or 'bad', then you are culpable of ignorance. You are ignoring what you are doing and confusing intrinsic moral value of existence with the capability (power) of a person. Have you watched the video on meritocracy that I linked? If you want to know more about your dillema you should read existential philosophy and novels (Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, mentioned in order of difficulty, but Heidegger is most essential). It is certainly true that people are better at something, at making money, scoring with women, etc. but that does not project back on their value as human beings. Humans are intrinsically in-valuable, impossible to value. Even if you spread misery and wreck havoc, you are not a bad person. You are simply unskilled with coping with your own suffering and are trying to deal with it by spreading it. Spreading suffering extinguishes it only momentarily and is a bad strategy in the long run, especially if you have power to leverage.