Mason Riggle

@Inliytened1 so, no.. you can be 'God 'pretending' not to be God, which is still God.'

Is it possible to 'not be God'?

Challenge: Think something other than what you are about to think about. Do something other than what you are about to do. Any attempt to 'be other than how you are' is just more 'being how you are'. Notions of 'free will' are nothing more than 'word/concept' games. It's the bizarre notion that things can occur 'other than how they are occurring'. If you think you are 'controlling what you do', recognize that 'controlling what you do' is just more 'what you are doing'.. who is controlling the 'you' who is controlling you? People are confused by language.. when we say, for example, 'I am thinking my thoughts'.. this brings about notions of a 'doer' who 'does things'.. but notice that when we say, 'I am growing my hair', it's easily recognized that what is actually happening, is that 'hair is growing', and there isn't a 'doer' who's 'doing it'. Organism grow hair. Organisms think thoughts. But there is no 'controller' somewhere inside the organism 'controlling' how it does those things. Organisms are 'how they are' and they never have to 'try to be how they are', because 'trying to be how they are' or 'trying not to be how they are' are both just more 'being how they are'. There is no 'doing'.. only 'being. And you are ALWAYS 'being how you are', effortlessly.

@Philipp Recognize that it's impossible to 'not be like yourself'. This is because anything you do, is 'being like yourself'.. and any 'attempt to be other than how you are' is just more 'being how you are'. There really is no 'doing'.. There is only 'being'. And you never have to try to 'be how you are'.. you are always just 'how you are'. Reality IS how it is, and it never has to 'try to be how it is' or 'want to be how it is' in order to be that way. Trees don't have to 'want to be trees' in order to 'be trees', and they don't have to 'try to be trees'.. they just 'are trees'. Consider, if you had to 'want to become enlightened' in order to become enlightened, wouldn't you first have to want to 'want to become enlightened' before you could 'want to become enlightened'? How would you do that? Would you have to want to 'want to want to become enlightened'? 'wanting' is just more 'being'. If I want a drink of water, I didn't have to 'try to want a drink of water'.. nor did I have to 'want to want a drink of water'. “In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.” —Robert Frost.

@EnlightenmentBlog I wasn't giving any advice. There is no such things as 'counter-productive'. That too, is an illusion. There is only 'what will happen' or 'what IS happening' or 'what has happened'. "We do not really know how to interfere with the way the world is.”

@EnlightenmentBlog I feel like I do what I do, effortlessly. I don't feel like I have control. I'm not 'arguing semantics'.. I'm showing how the language we use creates these so called 'paradoxes'. 'lack of freedom' can be recognized to be the case at all times, and it is not 'logically unacceptable' or 'self-contradictory'. There's no free will.. I don't 'feel like I have free will'... there is no paradox.

@EnlightenmentBlog how? When you say 'control can be used', the word 'can' only means 'has the potential to'... as in 'a car at the bottom of a hill CAN drive to the top'. But recognize that 'the car' doesn't have a will of it's own, and can not 'cause itself to drive to the top of the hill'. We 'can' find power, if and only if conditions are such that we 'do' find power, and conditions in any moment are whatever they are. You don't choose your next thought any more than you can choose my next words. 'Choosing your thoughts' would require you to think them before you think them. What 'thought process' would you choose to use to 'choose your next thought?' How would you choose that? More thought? Recognize that thoughts arise automatically.. you don't have to 'try to think'... the same way you don't have to 'try to grow your hair'. Your hair is growing, automatically. Your thoughts are thinking, automatically.

You can be 100% sure that Something seems to be happening, rather than Nothing/Everything.

@CultivateLove ?

Sure.. obviously it doesn't have to be 'praying out loud'.

You can't force a plant to grow a flower.. You plant a seed, nurture it, be patient, and if the conditions are right, it will eventually blossom. -------------------------------------------------- The 'praying out loud' sounds like 'law of attraction'.. It's nearly impossible to get to where you want to be if you don't know where you want to be. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” - Paulo Coelho

@BlurryBoi it's a game that can only be 'won' by not reaching the end. The only 'point' or 'prize' of the game, is to play the game. As long you're playing the game, you've already won. “The reason you want to be better is the reason why you aren’t, shall I put it like that? We aren’t better because we want to be. Because the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Because all the do-gooders in the world whether they’re doing good for others or doing it for themselves are troublemakers: on the basis of “kindly let me help you or you will drown,” said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree. Sometimes doing good to others and even doing good to oneself is amazingly destructive because it’s full of conceit. How do you know what’s good for other people? How do you know what’s good for you? If you say you want to improve then you ought to know what’s good for you, but obviously you don’t because if you did then you would be improved. So, we don’t know. We do not really know how to interfere with the way the world is.” — Alan Watts

@Baludi "the implications of this would mean huge fucking madness." Sort of.. I mean.. the only reason you think 'this' (whatever is happening now) isn't 'huge fucking madness', is because you think it's not. It is. What's up with peeing? That's madness. Have you seen worms? Madness!! What about relationships? Madness!! None of it really makes any sense. It might as well be Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings. If you had a different perspective, say an alien looking down on Earth who had never experienced anything remotely similar to what's occurring here.. THIS would seem like the 'alien' reality... THIS would appear to be 'huge fucking madness'. You tell yourself a convincing story, that all of this 'whatever it is' makes some kind of sense.. but c'mon man.. this shit (reality) is off the chains. Consider the notion that 'nothing' and 'everything' really are no different.. nothing can not be described, because it has no qualities.. no size, no shape, no color, no weight... in other words.. it's has no 'limits'.. Nothing, just like Everything, is 'formless' or 'limitless' or 'indescribable' or 'infinite'. 'Nothing/Everything' only 'seems' or 'appears' like 'Something'. Seeming, or Appearing, is the same as 'dreaming' or 'pretending'. That's why people say 'life is just a dream'.. or Reality is Imaginary.. 'Somethingness' is literally 'imagined into being' or 'Created'. How, you might ask? Well, it seems that one of the infinite possibilities of 'Nothing/Everything' is 'pretending to be separate from itself' or 'dual rather than non-dual'.. or 'many things rather than one thing', by imposing 'imaginary limits' on itself.. these 'limits' take the form of 'duality'. Up vs. Down. Light vs. Dark. Self vs. That which is not Self. (recognize that Up and Down only have meaning 'relative' to each other.. you can't have just Up, and not Down) Duality is the 'mechanism' of Creation. It's literally how 'Nothing/Everything/Oneness' 'Seems Like' 'Something/Many Things'. Madness.

Human organisms don't have 'free will'.. they have 'intelligent will'. Take solace in knowing that even though humans don't behave 'freely' (I'm not sure what that would even mean, really.. free from what, exactly? Influences? Conditions? Causes?) , they do behave relatively 'intelligently'. Lucky us!

Whatever 'experience' is occurring RIGHT NOW is as 'real' (True) as it gets, and it's ALWAYS now. The one thing we can be ABSOLUTELY sure of, is that something seems to be occurring right now. We might be totally confused about what that something is, but we can be sure that something seems to be happening. Beyond this one thing we know for sure, it seems we can have 'degrees of certainty' (but never absolute certainty) about the 'contents of experience'. For example, I'm pretty sure I'm sitting at a computer typing this comment right now, but I might be dreaming. I feel about 99.9% sure THIS 'now experience' is REAL (even though I'm 100% sure I'm experiencing whatever I'm experiencing). I'm also pretty sure my car is outside.. I can't see it from where I am.. but I'm pretty sure it's there. I could be wrong. On the other end of the spectrum.. I'm highly doubtful that there are dragons flying around outside, or another way to put it, I'm 'fairly certain' there aren't dragons flying around outside... certain enough that I'm going to 'act as if' there are not dragons outside, even though I can't be 100% sure of this. Needless to say, I won't be looking to the skies before I go out to see if my car is really there or not.

@Someone here "I'm asking why are you a human being right now and not a shark for example?" Isn't it obvious? If I was a shark, I would be a shark, but I'm not, I'm a human. Asking 'why is that so', is like asking, 'why is reality the way it is, and not some other way?'. I'm not sure there is a satisfactory answer to that question. Reality is the way that it is, because if it wasn't, it wouldn't be how it IS. I know this is circular logic, but such is the nature of logic. A=A is circular. A can not equal B, because if it did, it would be B, and not A.

@Someone here my experience is whatever my experience is. I'm not making any claims about it other than that. "'reality' is 'real' and 'I' exist within it" may be the case, but I can't say for sure. That's sometimes what reality 'seems' like, but sometimes it seems like there is no separation between 'me' (the experiencer of reality) and 'my experience' (reality).

@Someone here Recognize that the only thing you can verify with 100% certainty, is experience itself. Something is happening, that's for sure, but I might be completely mistaken about what that something is (I might be brain in a vat, or dreaming all this, or in a simulation, or hallucinating, etc). It's only an assumption that reality is 'real' in the sense of it being 'separate' from 'the experience of reality'. What evidence would be sufficient to prove to yourself that you're experience is not a dream, that would not be 'part of your experience'?

"“I am whatever I need to be at the time I need to be it.” - Frank Gallagher, but also God.

“We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.” "When we make music we don't do it in order to reach a certain point, such as the end of the composition. If that were so, the best conductors would be those who played fastest. And there would be composers who only wrote finales. People would go to a concert just to hear one crackling chord… Because that’s the end! Same way with dancing. You don’t aim at a particular spot in the room because that’s where you will arrive. The whole point of the dancing is the dance." ― Alan Watts

Love, Love, Love Love, Love, Love Love, Love, Love There is nothing you can do that can't be done Nothing you can sing that can't be sung Nothing you can say But you can learn how to play the game It's easy Nothing you can make that can be made No one who can save that can't be saved Nothing you can do But can learn to be you in time It's easy All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love, Love Love Is All You Need Love, Love, Love Love, Love, Love Love, Love, Love All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love, Love Love Is All You Need There's nothing you can know that isn't known Nothing you can see isn't shown There's nowhere you can be That isn't where you're meant to be It's Easy All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love All You Need Is Love, Love Love Is All You Need -McCartney, Lennon

@Someone here not 'coincidentally'.. necessarily. 'coulds' and 'shoulds' are really 'could ifs' and 'should ifs'.. You 'could have been a cat, if only conditions were such that you were a cat, but since conditions were not such, you can't be a cat." You 'could live in a different reality, if only you lived in a different reality, but you don't, so you can't.'.

The tree naturally grows itself the 'best' way it can, and it does this without 'trying'. Consider, is a tree 'controlling' how it grows itself? Is the 'tree' growing it's trunk and branches and leaves, or is 'the growing of trunks, branches, and leaves' synonymous with 'the tree'. I think it's the latter. There is no 'separation' between 'the tree' and 'the growing of trunks, branches, and leaves.' That 'separation' is just an illusion caused by the language we use. Where is the 'tree' that's growing leaves? Inside the tree somewhere? Aren't 'the leaves' part of 'the tree'? Where is the 'you' that's growing your hair? Isn't 'your hair' part of 'you'? How hard are you trying to grow your hair? It's effortless. Your hair is growing. How hard are you trying to 'think your thoughts'? It's effortless. Your thoughts are thinking. How hard are you trying to 'be you'? It's effortless.. you are being you. 'Control' is an illusion. "Stoicism is a powerful way of living, but maybe Taoism is a better way to follow ?" - better/worse are subjective. Consider, is 'driving as fast as possible without crashing' the 'best' way to drive? Well, it depends on what your 'subjective' goal is.. are you trying to get to the grocery store, or win a Nascar race? What is your goal? How do you know what 'the best' goal is? Who's to say?

Go deeper. Recognize that 'trying to be like yourself' and 'trying not to be like yourself' are the exact same thing. They are both 'what you are doing', which is ALWAYS 'being you', and you 'are yourself' effortlessly. Consider: How hard are you trying to 'be yourself' right now? How hard does a tree try to be a tree? How is it that the tree grows leaves without trying to? Well, it's simple really.. the tree isn't 'doing anything' other than 'being a tree'. 'doing' is an illusion.. there is only 'being'. You are ALWAYS 'being how you are', effortlessly, and that's the only thing you are ever 'doing'.