SoonHei

+1

if you want analogies. then yes, you (@AlwaysBeNice ) are certainly a character in a book. Like Harry Potter who certainly has free will within the context of the book but no "free will" from the author's point of view... he will do what the author has written he will. so, perspective is key when trying to understand free will... it's all relative. now - as the character @AlwaysBeNice the key thing is to have this in mind... that the outcome of your actions are not in your hand... try your best to do whatever it is you're trying to do... but do not be attached with the result... another way i like saying this is that live with the no free will understanding from your POV as @AlwaysBeNice such that you cannot use I HAVE NO FREE WILL in a court of law actions will have consequences this understanding that whatever has happened in your life and whatever will happen is pre-destined allows you not to suffer from the past and your present circumstance ... it does not advocate that you remain standing in-front of an oncoming bus while crossing the street. and one key thing as a result of the deeper understanding is in your very name.... always. ALWAYS Be Nice knowing that other's are doing whatever they were meant to... take out the "me" from your thought stream... such that you're not saying He/She did this to ME... and instead say He/She did this or that... and instead of this happened to ME, say instead this happened (no attachment to the happenings) live this way until the shift of perception happens wherein you begin to see that even when it is said this happened or he/she did this that is a spontaneous occurrence - without any doing from YOU Love leads the way... always be nice

@AlwaysBeNice there needs to be a separate individual entity to be choosing between choices/actions to have a free will right? if you throw a rock down a steep hill... does it have free will about where it will fall and bounce off of and where it will land? asking if a person has free will is like asking if a rock which is thrown down a hill has free will. that is to say, the question is invalid. does a character in a book have any free will? before this can be answered, you must fill in the blank about: from whose point of view? so, does a character in a book have any free will - from the POV of the author? NO. you read the book over and over again, the story will play out as it was meant to be/written. so, does a character in a book have any free will - from the POV of the character? Yes. The character chooses his/her actions/words/thoughts etc. replace above as follows: character = your ego, you | book = life | author = God

love it @Shiva

+1

@Preetom indeed...

LOL That's Self-Aware Screens to you MR!

@Inder hey man, welcome. as pure awareness - nothing escapes your gaze. you need not put attention on something to be aware of it. you're already aware of everything in your awareness... just not consciousness of the fact that you are. as pure awareness, you're simply aware of all happenings. now here's something which can be very tricky... ALL HAPPENINGS includes :>> Inder (thinking he is speaking as pure awareness) asking: i feel like i can put awareness on my feet, then move to head or any other place, or i can choose to be aware of my thoughts instead of emotions, or aware of emotions instead of thoughts, does awareness has that kind a control or its just all illusion. so as pure awareness (the boded part above), you're simply aware of all that part after the " :>> " as pure awareness, you do nothing which happens in your experience. nothing whatsoever to alter or change the world or place your attention on feet or the sounds you hear... that is Inder doing all of that. and you're aware of Inder doing all that. just like a reader, reading a book. does the reader do anything but read the book? and all the happenings in the book simply happen as they are meant to be. that's your position here. you're the reader, reading a book about inder and as the reader (pure awareness) you're currently reading the part about Inder discovering that what he really is, is pure awareness (reader) but the message is for you the reader (pure awareness) and not inder... the point is to get you the reader/pure awareness to see that you have identified with Inder/character in the book. just as we get fulled engrossed in a horror movie or a tragic movie and are afraid/sad as a result... all the while when we really know it is just a movie/story same thing here. you were/are always free... as the reader is free of the story of the book he reads. he is outside of it and not effected by it... simply aware of it...

xoxoxxoo@Matt8800

@Matt8800 me replying is simply playing your initial tennis serve back with hopes you miss it (understand what I'm saying) and do not play the shot back looks like i might have missed but here's another *SMASSHHH * + *AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUHHHHGHHHH* (Nadal's Grunting in Tennis )

@Matt8800 well... everything is ego based our very discussion about it is ego based and yes, it's because to them, it absolutely holds true... that they are not beneficial. that's the whole dilemma - they are certainly rejecting something from not having tried it themselves... or they could have tried it and had a bad trip thereby warning others not to do it. possibilities are endless and this debates gets you and I nowhere i like to call such debates a game of tennis... we are just playing with this debate/idea. end of day, we will stop and be exactly where we are. for yourself, ask why knowing/discussing this is important for YOU? it's knowledge based info... does nothing to move your spiritual position so to speak... the answer at the end may be correct... but what does it add? it's like you wanting to know the population of a country... okay... you have the answer. now what? #EgoBased

@Inliytened1 really man, you aren't not unreal

@Matt8800 it isn't a must. some may "reject" it in that they do not even know about it... in some countries, using psychedelics to trip / grow spirituality is not even a thing. also for most, they do not know about this property of them. for those who know and do not try... who knows, there could be many reasons... why is yoga not done by all why is mindfulness labeling done by all why is even sitting down to meditate done by all the why isn't exclusive only to psychedelics.

+1 @Esoteric that above is what that is. in a different parallel reality... provided your state of consciousness graduates to the possibility - Raltston is probably growing out wings for himself and his devotees who attend his sessions. there are really no limits other than the ones you imagine open your mind and realize the infinite possibilities the version of Raltston which is in your level of awareness right now is doing ordinary things which you think should be possible for a human. same as the version of Leo you see. there are infinite versions of Leo and the Leo who took 5Meo Dmt vs the one in this version of reality are different . may that Leo already realized God potential and is growing wings and women out of thin air each second each moment new entire universe is rolled before you.. like a different frame of a movie in front of a projector... except each pixel has a different iteration and all such frames exists... infinite x infinite x infinite x infinite across infinite dimensions

oh yes... and paradoxically there are also limits included in the super-set of limitlessness - truly limitless indeed

@Inliytened1 love it and pure potential is truly Infinite.

@Aethereus xoxo anytime Bob! Love Sam

@Aethereus haha i know what you mean that works from my perspective as well from my perspective, you may also be equated to a moving rock but i tell you that i am very much "alive" and have a unique perspective God is infinite! an infinite # of perspectives / POV's simultaneously! don't you think if you as aethereus or the consciousness "behind aethereus' eyes" was the only thing in existence... it would be very limited? every inch and corner of existence is alive. all insects. birds. land and water animals. aliens. and beings we cannot even imagine have perspectives ... the watcher and knower of them all is ONE it comes down to this: this could just be writing appearing to you in your direct experience... soonhei, some character which appears before you and also claims to have a perspective... or soonhei does have a perspective. a very real one. just like you right now it may seem like you're just choosing to believe one or the other option but the latter is correct. and once you have a direct experience of God - more will be understood. and you will come to see that the word infinite also really cannot contain what the TRUTH is... it is beyond infinite! infinite perspectives. all unique. *** your own direct experience leads the way for you

@DrewNows good one! thanks

@Aethereus "other's" have their own unique POV and consciousness. everything in existence is consciousness but it is all part of ONE GRAND SINGULAR CONSCIOUSNESS just like the same one electric current powering the tv, the fridge, the fan, the vaccum in your house. the answer to your question depends on which POV you are taking. analogies can help you see this. here's another: imagine an Actor MIKE who plays a double role in a movie. he plays 2 characters BOB and also SAM in the finished movie, both BOB and SAM have a life/character/POV of their own and are two very different people. but from the OUTSIDE OF MOVIE point of view. they are both played by / and are MIKE. so when you're asking 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. that is equal to SAM or BOB asking this question. from their POV this is not the case. for SAM, Bob is very real and for BOB, Sam is very real. it is only from the POV of MIKE does that question come into play and right now you're not speaking from the POV of MIKE (God) ... you're speaking from the POV of BOB/SAM (@Aethereus ) so as @Aethereus don't get lost in that .. because that would be nihilsim - which isn't the case. enjoy and be happy!

@Pacific Sage both are two ends of the same ONE stick. both eventually meet like a circle, the two extreme ends merge into the other.

@Pouya of course. as with anything else in life. but it works better when one isn't aware that they are under placebo... that would not be authentic and be present instead as a block either way. your faith/belief is the other end of the stick. realize that you're the creator of your experience and have binuralbeats or even a beat you can drum urself on the table do the trick for you

@Pacific Sage you can do it 2 ways a person/ego with blind faith, very powerful, unshakable faith in God or a person/ego going from knowing-feeling they are a person to realizing they are actually the higher-self/God and are creating their experience . this would be bringing the sub-consciousness to your normal / immediate consciousness... kinda like being in a dream and it becoming a lucid dream... that gives you immediate recognition of your position and with the faith/believe and direct experience of that you can then begin to create/direct your own life experience ... includes both your person and the whole of your experience

they are legit if you want them to be legit. YOU choose!

To each of us, there is only our own direct experience. From my POV and my direct experience, the direct experience of all of my friends/family/all of you on the forum here is only within MY reality which I'm creating. My siblings with me when I was young may have a very different branch-off of what I look like in their version of reality... each passing moment... a different reality. All of them, everyone is re-created in our own version of reality as well... but that's all these realities are... just passing/intersecting points meeting in that frame only and then branching off into infinite possibilities from there. We each hold a unique POV of the moving direct experience as we shift thru one reality to the next. I had a significantly powerful experience a few years back where I was accompanied by my siblings and wife. I went unconsious and do not recall anything from my POV except for the part when I was returning back consious. from their POV, what my body was doing while I was out... was quite terrifying. one thing which came to mind back then was this particular fact... the fact that in some of their timelines/POV... maybe what branched off was my death and no return back to the body... of course in my POV i returned and there they were... with the version that I was gone and then eventually came back... because I will only have that in my POV which connects with my version of reality mandella effect power of thought - manifesting/willing things to happen placebo effect - all are a product of this knowledge remember, there is only your own direct POV think and it will happen ask and you shall receive or rather... will and it shall happen. just get your level of conviction and build that traction in your dreams, the moment you become lucid, you can see the true power of knowing you can will/create anything but simply thinking it and willing it into existence... and well, there you have it... the master key... life is but a dream <3