Aethereus

I want some serious thoughts on whether other people exist (have consciousness) or not. Here's mine: What I'm perceiving are appearances of other people and I have no evidence of them being conscious. On the other hand, I have no evidence that I am the only conscious one. I'm not deeply involved with enlightenment but I kind of understand that my ego, my sensations and anything "outside" of me is all happening inside my consciousness. But that only reinforces the feeling of loneliness and of life being no different than a dream. I hope I'm naive and mistaken, but if not, then this is damn sad. What's the point of connecting with others? Of supporting them? Or even interacting at all with them? It's confusing when enlightened people try to help others while they say that they don't exist. Extra brain puzzle for you: if all I have is my perception of you, then all I can do is be guided by you to find the truth by myself. What could such guidance be? Merely taking your word as truth would be no different than believing a person in my dreams. Again, I hope I have arrived at false conclusions. Keeping my mind open, hit me.

Looks like most of us have some serious consciousness work to do instead of just thinking about this

Great insights everyone, you really woke me up. Especially @Truth Addict nailed it.

@SoonHei That said a lot. Thanks very much!

@SoonHei What you're saying makes perfect sense, but only if everyone has consciousness. On the one hand you can say that since Mike has consciousness, so do his roles (Bob&Sam). But on the other hand, in my experience as "Bob", I have no evidence of "Sam". I'm trying to figure out how I can know wheter others have perceptions aswell. Because in my experience they are no different than a moving rock, as harsh as that sounds

That said a lot. Thanks very much

How does one strike the balance between being and thinking/doing? It seems to me that conscious thoughts and even unconscious ones (daydreaming) are necessary to function and achieve stuff. Yet I read in a book that what you learn in meditation must infuse your daily life. If that means that you should be mindful 24/7, then that's damn puzzling.

I understand. However when I become conscious of my thinking, it either stops or turns into a mess. Quality thoughts often come when I'm not fully conscious (i.e. daydreaming) so how do I account for that?

This spoke to me directly. Thanks a lot.

I'd really appreciate to hear your experiences or at least your opinions on this technique

Like the others said, go at your own pace, don't push yourself too much, it will be much less painful if you allow thoughts and emotionts to just pass (be detached from them). This is how you face your fears: cut through the nonsense your mind creates and go straight for what you want. Stay calm, be loving, be alive.

I'm not a psychologist, but I doubt whether they would give any real growth. Maybe they will fix your mood but sooner or later you must face the problem

I haven't done any enlightenment work but I have worked a lot on my psychology so I'd really like to be in a situation like yours because your situation is getting closer to enlightenment (atleast so I think.) Also yeah that workout analogy seems very accurate

@Buba fear of the unknown. You need to keep meditating despite that in order to grow. In fact, keep living your entire life normally despite this fear instead of being absorbed by it. You can keep functioning normally AND do spiritual work. The fear is the unnessecary thing that makes you feel dysfunctional

I was thinking the same. I'd be grateful if I were in his place, despite the pain. And yeah, he can't stop. The seen cannot be unseen

Your fears and all the negative emotions you are experiencing now are your ego's defense against erasing itself. It never likes uncomfortable stuff so it will use negative emotions to push you back to your comfort zone. In other words, you are close to uncovering your SELF-deceptions and your ego is doing everything to prevent it by making you feel bad and come up with reasonable excuses like "I'm gonna be mentally crippled if I continue." In my opinion, the only thing that can cripple you is getting closer and closer to the truth WHILE develeoping an even stronger resistance to it. Exactly what I meant by saying that developing a resistance will cripple you

Cetus is right. You need to go through this negative phase, face your fears and be totally honest with yourself. If you do that, I'm sure you'll be happier than you can imagine

@Finland3286 what Leo is trying to say is that atheism itself is a dogma (a set of undeniable beliefs), which is what religion is too. It might seem that it's about being open-minded, realistic and believing only evidence, but actually most atheists are way too certain about God not existing and also way too certain about science being the ultimate tool for understanding all of reality

Ever heard of the self-image? It is said that our self-image governs our peraonality and not vice versa. Let alone the fact that we have beliefs, values and our own models of reality, and that all of these (including self-image) can be changed radically. After all, if personality change was not possible, why would personal development even exist?

Great insight. After all, books aim to make you visualise and take you "elsewhere". Even non-fiction books.

@Robert That's true, if you can do it the right way. And to me, being all narcissistic about it and barely showing any understanding doesn't seem to be effective at all

@Robert Many of the things you say just don't stick with each other. You say how you have good intentions and all that and then you start attacking everyone for the sake of imposing your beliefs. That's so hypocritical.

To me being mature means having high conciousness and awareness and a detachment from the ego. Think about it, that's exactly the opposite of children

Try spending less time on the notes so that you can spend some time on practice. Start by thinking what you really want and set aside enough time for it. You will thank yourself for having done so. It's amazing to turn your knowledge into experience Also, be warned that your mind will resist change. So if for example you are a lazy person and took these notes on how to be super productive, putting them into practice will feel unnatural and you will tend to fall into your old behaviors. Keep pushing!

From what you have said I see that you're NOT narcissistic, don't believe anything you're being told. To me it sounds like you're neurotic, you have low self-esteem and probably OCD. This is just my own conclusion though, but I have similar issues. Now that's not something to worry much about but here's what I recommend to improve your situation: Start a meditation habit and watch some of Leo's videos about neuroticism and self-esteem. That will give you a good start and from there you will find your own path