KnockingFromInside

This is something I've noticed in a few films. The hero (usually in a dream or vision) comes face to face with the enemy- and realizes they've been fighting the self all along! Who knows if any of these are direct references to each other (Brazil is probably referencing Star Wars). The point is that this is a real psychological phenomenon. Before finding these scenes I've had a few semi-lucid dreams that were exactly like this. I can't convey the level of mindfuck in seeing your own face as that of the monster. Inland Empire comes the closest to capturing that feeling. It's a complex feeling of terror and sadness all at once, but in a way that is profoundly healing. The terror comes because I see the darkness within me and the potential to continue down that path (I AM THE DEVIL!!), and the sadness comes because I see that my enemy is an angel that has fallen tragically (THE DEVIL IS ME!). The fall comes not from a desire to hurt, but from a fear of being hurt. In this fear we protect ourselves with a frightening mask...a mask which repels the love we need. It's heavy stuff.

Weird. Stuff like that has been happening to me more and more. I had a lucid dream involving my first grade teacher. The next day I logged into an online account which I hadn't been on in quite a while, so I couldn't remember my password. To reset it I had to to answer a security question..."Who was your first grade teacher?" But even weirder was the time I woke up from a particularly intense dream and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to get up and read the comics in the newspaper and found that they ALL seemed to make some kind of commentary on my dream/mental state. EVERYTHING I looked at was significant. The only other time I felt this way was the one time I ate a pot brownie and became uncomfortably stoned. It was very strange to feel that way without taking drugs, but I will say that the dream I had that night was one of the most mind-shattering experiences of my life. So it kind of makes sense that my mind ran a little differently after that. Most of the time though I'll just be in a store or something and notice that the lyrics of a song are very oddly on-the-nose. This stuff used to weird me out a little, but now I just smile.

I really feel like there are a lot of open-minded Christians out there who are ready to have their minds blown with non-duality. My parents are pretty standard Christians but in the last year or so I've hooked them on the Tao te Ching. Lol. They still have an attachment to Jesus and the Bible but acknowledge that God can be reached through other means.

Inspired by Leo's blog post. I read the Bible last year and took down some notable verses along the way. Here are some good ones: And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:19-20) The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:11-12) “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler. (Psalm 82:6-7) 20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20-21) For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[c] And by him we cry, “Abba,[d] Father.”16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:14-17) I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:11) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18) For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-21) You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:7-11) Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:11) Of course I could go on and on. Clearly Jesus was not THE son of God, but A son of God. Seems pretty clear to me, although I admit that The Bible can be a confusing mess of a spiritual guide if you don't already have a background in spiritual knowledge. Still, I'm amazed at all the stuff Christians pass over. Why don't you ever hear about Elisha, for example? This is a who guy who supposedly brought a kid back from the dead and multiplied bread to feed a large crowd. Sounds a lot like Jesus....yet I had never heard of him until I read 1/2 Kings.

I don't think this is technically a strange loop, but it is loopy!

Hey everyone. New user here and first post. I think we need a video on Christianity. I read the Bible in its entirety last here and found a lot to love about it. It's very complicated- many books, many genres, and many authors at different levels of spiritual understanding. Most Christians seem to miss the point that we are ALL children of God! There are many verses which state this! And of course atheists disregard the whole thing. I think a video about "the true message of the Bible" could be very valuable. It would draw views from a Christian crowd and push them toward non-duality without completely discrediting their background as Christians.