tsuki

The ego 'has' a personality and tries to manipulate it to fulfill some goal. If you are able to perceive your personality, judge it, and influence it, then you are an ego.

Damn, that's wise. Did someone coach you in the meantime, or did you coach yourself with your depression?

@mandyjw Everything is true.

Richard Feynman

If they knew the purpose to begin with, then they wouldn't need to do the practice. All practices are lessons, so is self-inquiry. It may be the final lesson, but it is also the most difficult to learn, simply because of its simplicity. Following it, and then dropping, without 'understanding its purpose' is the practice!

Have you understood this?

Your path is about unconditional love. There is nothing wrong with that. You rightly observe that the mind is in your way, but your conclusions are wrong. It is not an enemy you have to conquer. If you play with your child with a ball, and accidentally hit its face with it, you do not blame the arms, do you? You need skill in order to express your love, so you need to work on your kinesthetics. The mind is no different. You cannot become athletic by fighting your body, just like you cannot be a sage by fighting your mind. "Deception" is a loaded word. The mind does not do that, it's the heart's responsibility. The mind is terrifying to the heart simply because there are no thoughts that are unthinkable and no actions that are undoable. The path is not about: heart>mind, or mind<heart, but hMeIaNrDt. You want the two so close together that you won't be able to see the difference.

@Preetom Great post, I think it should be featured or pinned. Self inquiry, as you are describing it, is a very advanced practice and may discourage many seekers that are just 'starting out'. Some people need the juice of mystical experiences to keep on with the journey, but they are nothing more than ways for the ego to sustain itself. The trouble with enlightenment is that ultimately, the ego needs to trick itself out of existence and no method can guarantee that. The best you can 'do' is to 'not-do', to simply wait until it happens. That surrender, in itself, is the end of seeking. Dressing it up in spiritual terms, pointing towards the wisdom of the great sages, is nothing more than marketing. That is what constitutes 'the tick', 'the bait' that hooks into the need to 'do'. That is how the snake eats itself.

@mandyjw?

What do you mean?

How would a true saint know her sainthood? She wouldn't believe it, even if God told her. She would blame it on the Devil, and she wouldn't be too far off.

Plenty. LSD trip lasts 12 hours and you have plenty of time to observe what is happening. If you understand what is being done there and are able to move your energy like that, then all hell breaks loose.

To become conscious of the true nature of ultimate reality requires the purity of the mind, heart and senses. That is not awakening, that is being Christ-like. It requires the full dissolution.

It's not about what you do, but about who you are. Insights are not to be remembered, but to be embodied.

@Arhattobe I bet you are. I know nothing. ?

@Arhattobe You had this conversation before. He acts as if he's shooting for stream entry, but in truth he's close to the whole shabang. It's only clear in hindsight.

@Arhattobe Leo hasn't seen through his own genuine humility yet.

This too shall pass.

Master's degree in mechanical engineering. I work as a technologist at a mold making company. I'm programming CNC milling machines, overseeing the design of the molds and their manufacturing. In spare time I run simulations for injection processes and meet clients from time to time.

You cannot still a pond with a stick. Your mind is not inside of your skull.

The bowl is most useful when it is empty.

Good.

There is no miracle. You just know too much and need to fabricate the benevolent force to prevent yourself from admitting that. Pffft. I conveniently skipped this part. Thank you.

Which you? My you or your you? Yes,