Mason Riggle

^this is the million dollar question that everyone wants to know... what should I do? Here is the answer- There is nothing you 'should' do. There is only 'what you are already doing', which is 'being yourself', and you never have to 'try to be yourself'. You are yourself, effortlessly. It's the same as asking, 'What should the Universe do?' Well, who's to say? The Universe 'should' be exactly how it IS being. Is there any other way it could be? Recognize that 'trying to be like yourself' and 'trying not to be like yourself' are the same exact thing.. they are both 'what you are doing', which is 'being like yourself', and you're always 'being like yourself', effortlessly. How hard are you trying to 'be you' right now? Not at all. It's effortless.

"Everything will be okay in the end, so if everything isn't okay, it's not the end."

"If you can't trust yourself, you can't trust anything. Because if you can't trust yourself, can you trust your mistrust of yourself?” - Alan Watts.

recognize that it doesn't matter.. Are you 'really' typing this post on this forum, or does it just 'seem' that way? Does it matter which it is?

Nah.. you ARE it.. it IS you.. There is no doing. Only being. It's so simple. What could anything ever 'do', that isn't just more 'being how it is'?

@tarun simhadri you do the same thing you did before- be yourself (which is the only thing you ever do), only with the understanding that you do what you do 'intelligently', not 'freely'. You recognize, after accepting that there is no 'free will', that this is true not only for you, but for everyone, and everything, and so you no longer have a reason to judge what happens.. because what happens is just what happens, and no one is 'doing it'. You recognize that you continue to 'be you', effortlessly, with all of your desires, in tact. You apparently still had the desire to write your post. You were motivated to write what you did. Your desire and motivation remain. You are still motivated to avoid suffering, and you still desire to experience joy. Otherwise, what would you be depressed about? "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." - Zen Proverb. Do not worry so much about recognizing that there is no 'free will'.. there never was any. You will (not freely) continue to be just how you will be. How hard are you trying to 'be yourself' right now?? The answer is, 'not at all'. Yet, here you are.. being yourself, just how you will.

It's all good [god].

@OneIntoOne what work? Who, exactly, should be 'doing the work'?

A strange loop.. Do we have to? Says who? The only thing I have to do is 'be myself', and I'm already always doing that. “ The biggest ego trip going is getting rid of your ego” — Alan Watts

More of an explanation than an excuse.. When a volcano erupts, destroying an entire village, I understand that this is just how volcanos are, and there is no point in 'excusing' or 'justifying' it's behavior.. it doesn't make any sense to do so. The Universe is always being exactly how it is... I don't need to justify or make excuses for why it is how it is.

@OneIntoOne I'm not sure what you mean by 'justify'. I view everything as necessary. Whatever is, is.. regardless of how I think it 'should be'.

@OneIntoOne how can you get closer to being what you already are???

It's tricky business... try naming a child. When it came time to choose names for my kids, a lot of thought went into it.. How will their name affect their life? Will a 'John' seem as unique to himself as a 'River' would? How will that affect him growing up? Will 'Gertrude' be picked on about her name more than 'Heather' would?

@OneIntoOne again.. what I see only has meaning if I give it meaning. If I look at a flower, whether I think it's beautiful, or ugly.. it is, to me.

@OneIntoOne my question would be.. 'Should we be moral, humble, honest, true, authentic, selfless'?? Who's to say?

@juvoci I've thought about this some. I use my real name on here, and because I do, I think (I may be totally off base on this, but maybe not) I'm perceived as 'just a regular joe' who isn't as 'serious' or 'informed' about philosophy etc., as someone named 'EnligthenedBliss', or what have you. Some newbie here would probably trust that someone named 'EnlightenedBliss' has more experience, or more understanding, about topics of 'enlightenment' more than they would trust 'some guy named Mason'.

@OneIntoOne how can someone 'become moral' if 'morality is just a human construct'? If I don't think a flower is beautiful, is it still beautiful? That you think 'fully awakened beings become Moral' says nothing about how 'fully awakened beings' actually are.. only how they seem to be to you.

The same reason flowers are beautiful.. Is there really such a thing as beauty? Why are flowers beautiful in a way that stems and leaves are not? Well.. they aren't, really.

@Leo Gura ?

@Ook it's a mindfuck. It's like trying to describe 'nothing'.. What is nothing like? Well, you can't say.. to describe it, is to say 'nothing is like something'. Consider the phrase, 'A cat is a cat, except when it's not'. This is the type of mental gymnastics people perform when trying to 'describe' the indescribable. 'God' is a nonsense word, like 'infinity'.. whatever you think it means, is not what it means, for the same reason you can't say what 'nothing is like'. "The map is not the territory' is a pretty good adage to use as a reminder.. The map (our concepts about what reality is) can not be 'the same as' the territory (what reality is).. without actually being the territory. You are looking for a really good map of the territory.. a description of how reality is, but no map will ever describe for you what 'being the territory is like' better than 'being the territory'.

@blankisomeone

@Someone here I completely agree with you here. In a different thread, Leo used the expression 'Consciousness imagines EVERYTHING', as if 'consciousness' was separate from 'EVERYTHING that it imagines'. He might have said, 'Consciousness IS EVERYTHING' and meant the same thing, if what he means is that 'all there is is consciousness'.. but this is like saying 'A=A'.. or A is itself.. Why not drop the 'everything is itself' language, and just say, 'Everything is'?

It means that everything happens, automatically. Half-ass jobs happen.. excellent jobs happen.. trees happen.. thoughts happen.. this conversation happens.. clouds happen.. rocks happen.. The reason 'how you do something is how you do everything' is because there really isn't a 'you' who 'does things' the way it's imagined there is. Consider how you are growing your hair? Are 'you doing that'? How hard are you trying to do that? Not at all.. it happens automatically, like everything.. effortlessly.