CaptainBobbyOlsen

@SOUL Yeah i think you are correct. It is a good distinction to make

@SOUL Yeah, you can use many words to describe it, and luckily you are free to use the one you like the best But i like the word “trap”, because it implies something that is not obvious when you are in the “trap” and approaching the “trap”. It is something you need to investigate and prepare for. What if you are in a “trap” right now without knowing? Its a little like a fantasy story where the characters in order to get the treasure have to go through a big maze. The maze have lots of traps that will deceive them and keep them from progressing towards the treasure. And a few characters might have some fragments of a map of the maze whereby they can see and anticipate the potential traps along the different paths through the maze. When they know a trap is coming then they can plan for it and are more likely to not be trapped by the traps compared to the ones without anticipation of the traps. Maybe one of the traps are made to look like “the final treasure”, and many characters will fall for the “final treasure trap” and believe they have completed the maze. And only a few of the characters have studied the map cloesely enough to know that the “finale treasure trap” is also just a trap and they need to continue. But what you are saying is completely correct. It is so hard not to fall into the trap/illusion/self-deception/hinderence/etc. when you “litteraly just found the absolute Truth, the one and only Truth”. The trap of believing you reached the end is a big one, and even more so if you use psychedelics compared to traditional tecniques i would say. Even if you believe you have reached an end you are probably better off just enjoying that feeling while expecting it not to be “the end”

Here is a little list of traps/illusions to be aware of Disclaimers: - The list is a work in progress so feel free to criticise/add/subtract - At the end of the journey one may/will probably realize that no such thing as a trap exist… How could it? - Different traps can contradict each other, but thats the nature the game i guess - Each trap has many nuances and can present itself in different ways - Some of the traps are very similar but a sleight difference can mean a lot - To some degree all traps has potential to also be a catalyst for a “possitive” outcome, but generally i would say that it will be most benefitial to be able to recognize when a trap is at work The list: - The trap of thinking you have reached the end before having reached the end - The trap of thinking that any insight/realisation/etc can constitude an actual “end” - The trap of thinking there is an entity who will become enlightened and cooler than everyone else - The trap of thinking/conceptualizing about that which cant be thought of/conceptualized - The trap of not actually practicing spirituality, but only consumimg spirituallity - The trap of chasing spiritual experiences - The trap of comparing yourself with the life of saints and sages - The trap of thinking you are more advanced than you really are/wanting to appear more advanced than “others” - The trap of confusing intellectual understanding for actual understanding - The trap of thinking that you can cheat reality/take a short-cut to understand reality - The trap of thinking that understanding of reality takes dacades and is basically impossible - The trap of thinking that understanding of reality is not possible in this very second, but only in an imagined future - The trap of thinking that reality is human-centered - The trap of believing your world-view to be the truth and trying to fit reality into your current world-view - The trap of making your “maps” too complicated/too simpel - The trap of following one tradition blindly - The trap of following many traditions half-heartedly - The trap of blaming incompetence/lack of insight on genetics/karma/etc - The trap of not compensating correctly for incompetence/lack of insight based on genetics/karma/etc - The trap of conflating relative/absolute and content/structure - The trap of thinking there is a “seeker” who is seeking something - The trap of thinking that “you” can do anything about anything - The trap of apathy/nihilism/giving up - The trap of not examining your direct experience deeply and accurately enough - The trap of thinking that something is missing and you need to find it - The trap of map vs territory - The trap of underestimating your own self-delusion and self-deception - The trap of thinking that you cant be wrong - The trap of believing the mind’s narratives to be other than just empty narratives - The trap of using the wrong tecniques/using too advanced tecniques that you are not “qualified” to use yet - The trap of thinking you have transcended the ego/false-self/jiva when you have not - The trap of seeking happiness and truth “outside” (money, job, social status, relationships etc.) - The trap of not laying a solid foundation - The trap of thinking that you want “truth”, but in reality you want something different - The trap of not investigating your assumptions - The trap of not being openminded enough - The trap of suppression - The trap of not investigating your limiting beliefs - The trap of not seeking help from “others”, and thinking you can do it all on your own in your bedroom - The trap of not realising an important trap If any important traps/illusions are missing then please let me know

@VeganAwake Yes, Yes of course when you recognize that there is no such thing as an individual, then the concept of traps/illusions etc are non-appplicable. But wouldnt you say that before such a radical recognition has taken place, that there appears to be traps that apparently hinders this recognion of taking place? And in that case wouldnt it be of benefit for the apparent person to know clearly what the possible traps look like before encountering them in order to better and faster realize the “non-applicableness” of the ideas of traps/illusions afterwards?

@VeganAwake You make it sound like there is absolutely no illusions/traps hindering your perception of reality right now. Is that true? And if you believe that to be true would you then say that there existed some illusions/traps in your direct experience 1 year ago, 2 years ago or 5 years ago, that you are no longer fooled by?

@Michael Jackson But can you see through those illusions you alluded to right now, without any psychedelic influences?

@Seraphim Cool article You say there is no narrative and incessent thinking going on now, but did you have that before “no-mind”? And was there an immediate change or grandual change when the i-thought was abandoned?

@Seraphim Yep, i can easily see the statements being a trap themselves haha Tell me exactly what changed in your psyche when the i-thought no longer arose. What were your thinking-processes before and after?

@Michael Jackson Great points! Are there any “traps” operating in your direct experience as you read these words? If yes, then discribe them and the actions that you take in order to no longer be trapped by them

I would love to compile a list of the most important traps of awakening, and reflect upon how they arise in the story of this body, mind and soul What i mean by “trap” is simply that which is/has a potential to hinder the blossoming of the understanding of reality in this life, in this very moment. Everything that makes you turn off the highway and go into a blind allyway just for you to realize that there is nothing for you there, and then you have to go back onto the highway without having gained much if anything from deviating from the highway What i have noticed in my own life and contemplations is simply that at any given moment(not all but most moments) there are at least one trap (usually many at the same time) operating that limits “my” understanding of reality right at this very moment. Examples of a few of the traps that are operating at the very moment of writing this text are: - The thought/feeling that there are “traps” hindering reality right now - That there is something missing right now - That there is a “someone” who can do anything about “traps” right now - That i need to understand reality better than i do right now in order to find total peace I have observed in my own life that whenever i notice and reflect upon a trap operating at any given moment, there is somewhat of a release from that trap itself. When for example i notice that i am engaging in the trap of conceptualizing and thinking too much about reality, there is an instant release from the thinking itself and a more direct and usefull/satisfying experience of reality as it presents itself moment to moment. Direct moment to moment experience without any traps operating is what i sometimes think of as the true end of “seeking”. So what are some of the important traps that you have noticed in your own life, and what helped you in overcoming/dealing with them? Thank you

Watching this election and the discussions revolving around it reminds me that not much has happened in 4 years, and not even the candidates have changed... at least not since this hilarious little clip was made

Hi @StripedGiraffe That video of yours was a great explanation of some of the core concepts about the ego. You definitely deserve some more subscribers with that quality content hehe. I´m already looking forward to the next video on the ego I´m in the process of writing a short guidebook about the ego, and I am looking for some quality resources to draw from. Do you know of any books/papers/people or anything that might help me gain an even greater understanding of the ego? The guidebook will contain everything worth knowing about the ego for a person on the spiritual path, so it doesn’t matter what part of the ego the resources touches upon Thanks

@zeroISinfinity Of course there is no ego. But saying that makes little difference. To deny the experience of being identified with an ego is a trap. The beauty of the ego is that it has without any substance managed to infiltrate everything in a person’s life, like literally everything from the self-concept to eating habits and beyond. When the ego-structure is set up properly, then its nature is spread everywhere. The craziest thing about the ego is that it has no solidity and it has no center of being, yet still through instantaneous identification it dominates every experience, every single moment the ego arises out of nothingness. How beautiful is that? @Osaid Thank you! That sounds like a really great book I will definitely look into it. @DLH That link is perfect, thank you

Hi Some weeks ago I came back to society after a 3-month Kriya-Yoga retreat. Doing the retreat I had a realization about my ego… Since I started doing serious spirituality some years ago I quickly found myself bound by an assumption about my ego. I thought that I knew exactly the inner workings of it, and that I new exactly how and why my ego keeps itself alive. But doing this retreat I caught a glimpse of the shadowy force, which we can refer to as ego. I noticed that my understanding of my own ego is incomplete. I thought that I understood the tricks and deceptions of the ego, but this false understanding was realized as yet another deception, that the ego uses to keep itself intact. Without a lack of understanding of the ego, there will be no ego. This was at least my realization. That I need to understand the inner workings of the ego, and through that transcend it. And yes I know that this whole thing is 100% an ego-project, and that the idea of understanding ego is only an extension of my own ego, I am aware Quickly I came to the understanding that I should try to write a short book about the ego. I ought to write the kind of book, that I would like to read myself in order to understand my own ego. So I decided that when the retreat was over I would first have to check if such a book already is in existence (I haven’t been able to find one yet), and if it isn’t then I would need to bring it in to existence. This is what I need your help with. I already own quite a fine collection of material, which either directly or indirectly touches upon the ego, but in order for me to write the book I need way more quality research material, which contains all the most essential wisdom about the ego. The idea of the guidebook/handbook is to distill the most essential knowledge about the ego from any source, be it anything from modern psychology to eastern philosophy. The book should provide explanations as to exactly how the ego might be defined (precisely what it is), how it operates and why (all the most essential defense mechanisms, that are hindering spiritual growth), what the purpose of the ego is and so on... Anything that is useful for a serious spiritual seeker to know about the ego must be included in the book. Furthermore there will be footnotes/references to all the “works” I come upon in my research, and other further recommendations for the reader to deepen their own understanding of ego. I therefore ask you guys whether you have any quality books, videos, research papers, articles etc. concerning the ego, either directly or indirectly? Or whether you know some professor/mystic/sage/whatever, whom would be perfect for me to talk with/interview to deepen my own understanding? Any source that has valuable understanding of the ego will be welcomed with open arms To make it really clear, at the moment of me writing this text, I am no expert on the ego. The point is for me to use this process of research and writing the book to deepen my own understanding of my ego, and through this understanding I will hopefully take yet another step towards the great abyss on the other side of ego Thank you for reading Rasmus

That is some interesting resources you found there. If anyone wants to dive a little deeper down the rabbit hole of economics, then I encourage you to look at the resources on this thread as well: https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/40073-acknowledge-even-10-of-thisand-you-are-to-be-deemed-a-conspiracy-theorist/ Have a great day