LfcCharlie4

There is no such thing as an Enlightened person, how can a person become enlightened when all there is is The Absolute/ Natural Pure Awareness/ The Self. Awareness simply recognizes itself. Also, teachers/ awakened beings don't NEED people to awaken, but they can see the suffering in so-called 'others' (Themselves), and from a place of Love wish to assist others in ending their suffering. However, you can't Awaken someone, you can assist in their journey and 'help' but in reality, teachers are there to help on someone's journey. Anyone who says they are an 'Enlightened Person' still have a LONG way to go until full realizsation. This video from 8 Mins in covers this so well 'We are all the light of this being, in some cases, it is veiled by our own thoughts and feelings.' 'I see you all as The One light of being. I don't have a mission to enlighten anybody.' Rupert is amazing 'I have no sense of being an 'Enlightened Person', the nature of my being is just clear to me.' 'In some cases, being is still veiled more or less thinly by a veneer of thoughts and feelings. Hence the need for these retreats, meditations, contemplations and conversations.' Everyone is The Self/ The Absolute/ God/ Love whatever you want to call it, but many just don't recognize this or know this consciously yet. If I was to emulate a teacher, Rupert is the perfect embodiment of this understanding. However, I feel working 1-1 with 'Students' can help them realize the light of their own being in an easier manner, as we always forget each person has a unique path, with unique questions and stumbling blocks on the path to Self-Realization and noticing their own being. I will always be in debt to my teacher, I remember 'getting it' and just smiling on the Skype call, realizing This is it, it was a beautiful 'experience.'

@electroBeam This is probably the best thing I've seen you post on here! Well said! I'd also add to look deeply inside yourself and find out what YOU want from life, don't just do what some teacher told you to do, we are all unique individuals who want different things, some people want to be hermits in Tibet, some want to only work 24/7, some want to be Poly and have 4 GFs at one time like I said It's completely up to you.

Please don't do this every day for the rest of your life, fasting is amazing but overdoing it is also unhelpful.

@Aaron p I think so ?

@VeganAwake I’m just gonna leave it here, people evolve at their own rate, and I Cba to have an “I’m more awake than you debate” or “prove” that I’m liberated or whatever, All that matters to me is the realization of the self has occurred and an absolute sense of peace and happiness is always here, I’m happy and if I’m not enlightened by Neo-Advaita standards I can live with that. I was just trying to point out the dangerous spiritual bypassing you are promoting, as if I was a confused seeker, that would not help me at all, it’s a common trap. Id also be very careful when relatively speaking about Life Purpose and saying it’s pointless when the owner of this forum sells a course around LP lol. He also covers now purpose is actually meaningless and what this actually means, and it doesn’t render it useless at all. It instead gives you complete freedom. Maybe Leo can articulate it better than I can! the fact that you say the term spiritual bypassing is irrelevant says it all really, I think I’ll leave it there. And of course man, I wish nothing but peace and love your way

Good post man, love how you mentioned we still experience emotional pain post awakening and still have emotions, without the added dimension of an I-Thought which leads to suffering. Ramesh was one of my teachers Ramaji’s original gurus and was the original guy who helped facilitate his awakening, sounds like an awesome teacher

@VeganAwake I get you, but how would relatively speaking, anything ever progress with this mindset? Everything is perfect, and nothing needs to be done, yes! But does that mean we should just let wars carry on, people starve and people live in poverty etc? Sorry, but I will never be on board with using The Absolute as a form of Spiritual Bypassing. From The Absolute perspective I 100% agree with you- Everything is perfect as it is! But, then let's say you're homeless, would you just never fix it? If you're overweight would you not go and lose weight? Do you see my point, I'm speaking from a 'Relative' perspective. And, I wasn't talking about coming from a place of lack or Ego, more Post-Awakening once one is at peace, happy and fulfilled and then felt as if they wanted to devote their life or participate in humanitarian work, maybe that's their LP, my points before were we're FREE to do as we choose post-awakening, I think we're on similar lines, in terms of not needing to do anything at all to be Fulfilled, but if someone chooses to, I'm sorry I don't agree that's coming from lack. I think motivation/ Desire can come from different places, and it may simply come from a place of love to want to help people, and not from a place of Ego. But, of course, at the same time, it could come from a place of Spiritual Ego, it completely depends! Another example closer to your heart might be Spiritual Teachers, truly awakened ones aren't doing it from a place of Ego and wanting to save people or redeem them, but from a place of love and wanting to help people awaken. Is Tony Parsons acting from a place of Ego? Was Ramana Maharshi etc? I'll be honest, you'll say this is just ego, but I often feel you sometimes come from a place of Spiritual Bypassing, and use awakening as an excuse not to act in certain areas of life as it's 'Ego.' Maybe I'm wrong, and I'm open to being wrong, but that's just the vibe I get, and it's the same vibe I get from Neo-Advaitans as well. Everything is perfect as it is, and THIS as it is is completely perfect as it is, where only The Absolute exists. But, on a relative level, if people are starving, wars are going on, Corona Viruses are spreading (!) then action needs to be taken. Or, on a personal level you lose your job, or you are overweight and have health issues, then that is what is happening NOW in THIS and you aren't going to just leave it are you? This short passage slightly explains what I mean- 'As October's tune-up, I have decided to write about the joy of Presence and being Present. Seekers and even awakened persons have the belief from somewhere that you have to become present in order to experience Presence. In fact, the opposite is true! We ARE Presence. The more we recognize this Presence that we are, the more Present we become. This process can be effortless even exhilarating. What you see is that the effort of “trying to become present” masks the obvious – we are Presence now! We are fully experiencing our Feeling of Being here and now. Without the pure Sense of Existing, nothing else is possible! Life begins with Presence. No need to look for it. You cannot avoid it! Now, let’s ask why it matters? Why does being Present in the Now matters? First of all, this knowingness automatically brings us into our bodies and into our immediate experience. However, for many people, the “real now right now” in their life is unpleasant. Then the need for habitual mental escape surfaces. Anything that looks remotely painful or unpleasant or ugly gets rejected without a second look. However, as we emphasize over and over, YOU CANNOT GO ANYWHERE! So when you deny and attempt to escape your “Real Now Here” you end up in a phony “nowhere land.” In fact, you have not escaped at all. Instead, you have become, in the immortal words of Pink Floyd, “comfortably numb.” You cannot attempt to escape life as it is moment after moment day after day and then expect to feel fully and wonderfully alive. This is called “spiritual bypassing.” It simply does not work! The sooner you lovingly approve, accept and embrace your arisings just as they are in this moment, the sooner you will in actuality transcend them truly and completely. THE WAY IS THROUGH! Move towards what you are afraid of. You will discover it is just a shadow! This being Present as Presence – fully approving of what is as it is now – is the key to unlocking and allowing the all-important shift from the small struggling “I am little separate me” into the vast, vibrant and increasingly awake sense of who we really ARE! Presence is that which is 100% okay with THIS! Listen now as I repeat our message. It is that important! What are we saying? We are saying that you WILL have to move towards, into and through WHATEVER experience life is presenting you right now in this moment and in your life as a whole. This is regardless of the positive, negative or neutral meaning that you may be giving it. In fact, the meaning that you are giving your experience IS the value that you are going to get from it. YOU create the meaning of your experiences! When you gently remind yourself to simply BE with whatever comes up, when you allow simple awareness of the emotional state you are in, Presence will become obvious! Am I happy? Am I sad? Do I know what I feel? Most do not know what their existential now feeling IS! Our conditioning has created an internal false judgment system which assumes that our now experience is NOT okay. It is flawed or broken or not good enough. What is now is not okay. Therefore, just being with WHAT IS now is not okay either! When we let this BS go, when we are finally able to allow, approve, embrace and just be with it... whatever it is... this is when the shift may occur! We will naturally become aware of our vastness. This leads to the natural interconnected knowing of the great love that we are too. Love, Interconnectedness, Presence then become more that mere words! The sweetness of the moment AS IT IS can now surface effortlessly! It creates the knowingness of that inner freedom to arise within us. At first one may get glimpses. The more this is practiced, the more it opens up to us. This is why I work so hard on the actual existential daily activity in my students lives. I want to draw attention to what IS going on vs. the various meaningless concepts we accumulate. This is why I often bring the focus to your character and your tendencies and your Enneagram type. My goal is to make sure that nothing is swept under the carpet. To make sure that all will be exposed. Nothing will remain hidden. This is the way to elevate, release, and embrace your super-intelligent exquisite Big Self in an authentic deeply integrated and very real life positive spiritual awakening!'

@VeganAwake It's a miracle I'm agreeing with you! However, if someone feels called to humanitarian work, I feel 10000% go for it, but to force it to be 'spiritual' like you said doesn't resonate well with me. Everyone's path is different and everyone expresses love, truth and beauty in their own way THANK YOU for the last line, money is neutral, it's simply energy! It's the motivation and action behind it that means it has become associated with so many negative meanings and projections. Most of us likely have some unhealthy beliefs around money, unless we were lucky enough to be brought up where money wasn't ever an issue and abundance/ energy mindsets were taught...which I imagine is rare!

@Raptorsin7 Awesome man, you're doing amazing! Just wanted to say, be careful not to demonize thinking. We don't need thoughts to live, as NAtural Pure Awareness takes care of everything, however, thoughts and the mind are merely tools to help us when we need them, like a latop! Do you want bliss? Or do you want absolute peace and happiness. Bliss will come, but bliss will pass, like how a trip passes, it could last years, however, what is 10000x better than any bliss or any high is the absolute happiness and peace that never leaves, why? Because it's our true nature, it is resting in the absolute. Congrats man, an LP where you get to play video games sounds awesome, you're a lucky guy

What a guy-Incredibly healthy haul as well, and lucky to have his GF on the health bandwagon as well! If I'm being picky don't think Soy Milk is a great Nut milk health-wise, but now that's just being a bit of a bellend about it Can agree that Peanut Butter is also my weakness LOOL, can't imagine life without it

Really love this thread! Music is an amazing form of art, especially for expressing emotions and expressing Love! I'll try go for different kind of romantic songs, I'll be honest I haven't looked through the whole thread so could be same songs! Unfortunately these guys have passed away, and in Juice WRLD's case he had found the love of his life, dunno maybe it's because they've both passed but it adds even more to the songs for me. You can often feel the hurt in these songs, that was masked with Drug abuse, and unfortunately both died Drug related deaths- Peep a Fentanyl overdose and Juice had a seizure at an airport as he downed his Percocets in fear of police searing his Private Jet and going to prison as a result. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-51218254 About other rappers deaths and the fear of dying young, eerily creepy

@Haumea2018 Explained what I was trying to say in about 4 lines, thank you!! Also, heard a great phrase from R&A, in terms of Love which was a big discussion point here. Shift your focus to becoming a being of sharing, at at least a '51:49' split of sharing/receiving, and this can of course gradually grow, and there is NO LIMIT to love and express this understanding, but DOESN'T mean we can't receive abundance as well. Counter-intuitively the more we share, the more we often receive which allows us to share even further, and by tapping into this understanding our potential is unlimited!

@crab12 This was kind of what I was trying to say, but I guess it kind of came across as fighting fir Stage Orange, which it wasn't meant to. More a healthy integration of Orange and an ability to enjoy duality in a healthy way. Say an awakened being wants a nice car, maybe they will opt for environmentally friendly cars such as Tesla (Example I don't know exact specs) instead of a Diesel car, and maybe they want a large home but will opt for a Stage Yellow self sustainable house that generates it's own energy using renewable sources, and has a vegtable garden and stuff like that, as this would be more beneficial and utilize less resources, it doesn't have to be as simple as Spending Money/ Desiring Things = Bad. But, I can see why, consumerism in excess causes lots and lots of issues, so it's all about finding that balance where we can enjoy things 'Guilt Free' without causing too much damage and actively trying to help the situation. In my case I went Vegan after seeing animal agriculture videos, but wasn't into spirituality at the time, and still don't think this makes me superior or more enlightened at all, I just don't want to support the animal agriculture industry and it happens you can live in optimal health with a Whole Foods Plant Based lifestyle. So, I can still enjoy the occasional treat 'Guilt Free' so to speak. Yeah, in terms of the Hermit approach I take a more 'Tantric' outlook in that we can experience all of life and duality in it's greatness in a conscious manner and don't need to become hermits. I often believe many of these hermits are trying to deny the 'ugly world out there' and haven't embraced the world as the very Buddha Planet, and The True Heaven, so are still potentially subtly rejecting duality! This also happens with Cellibacy a LOT, There is 'natural cellibacy' where the Sex Drive drops away naturally e.g. Ramana Maharshi and then forced celibacy that leads to nothing but repression and shadow issues....Priests beeing pedophiles for example? In my opinion, we should never deny something that is as natural as our sex drive, but of course we can make it more conscious and loving- like anything! Just to be clear I LOVE helping people, but I don't see to expense my own wellbeing as a result, I think that's BS to be honest, why not have both? Maybe that's greedy, but I feel we should be able to have our cake and eat it too Be able to enjoy basking in pure joy of The Self/ Non-Dual Honeymoon, while also enjoying the 'Duality' of human experience and embracing being a human and a unique one at that that has a personality and interests and things they love, what fun would it be if we were all a whitewash of awareness? Pretty boring.

@TheGreekSeeker Yeah I think he's joking or I've completely misunderstood him.

@GreenWoods Yeah I would pretty much agree with your 'definitions.' I would maybe change the 2nd one to simply 'Living The Understanding in all areas of life.' I guess our differences lie in how this can be expressed, to me anyone doing what they love is perfectly expressing this understanding as they are simply expressing and sharing love, and through this are sharing the understanding through the power of love. That's why I mentioned a Pro Athlete could be as embodied as Jesus teaching on his mountain, they teach and express in different ways and in the way that is best suited for their unique Body/ Mind. Maybe Jesus would do that, there wasn't many personal finance or investment courses out there back then @Nahm I still feel you're being sarcastic I just feel 1-1 Teaching > and probably am slightly biased, so it'd be the main way I wanted to teach @fridjonk Yes, watch extreme vegan activists and you can see Green being pushed to the max, I woudn't of ever gone vegan because someone screamed at me to do so, that's the bleeding heart issue of green, that can be resolved by the systemic problem solving of Yellow I guess!

@LfcCharlie4 Yes, I feel we're on the same page. The most important thing has to always be the student's growth and ideally their awakening, not the money you earn from them, and that's why I appreciated my teacher. I paid for each session, however, she basically told me to F off once I was done and that the next part I would need to do alone (in the nicest way of course) @Nahm Hmm I don't think I could add anything to what I've read, who knows maybe one day I'll write a book But, I wouldn't become a teacher to make money, if anything I'd like to be financially free by the time I teach so I wouldn't need to charge much and could compensate for those with little money. I just feel 1-1 is the most effective so that's what I'd want to focus on really, you can build a relationship and work with individuals on their individual problems. However, I'm only 20, I'd say this is like a decade in the future, I still have lots of integration work to do and wouldn't want to 'sell people short' in terms of teaching Ideally, I'd also like to be a holistic teacher, as I feel other areas such as Health, Fitness, Relationships etc need to applied to fully embody an awkening as we've spoken about here, and I have work to do in those areas still, I kind of want to spend my 20s building complete financial freedom, while also expanding my knowledge in those other areas as much as possible. It's amazing how much more time there is once we finish seeking, before I would spend SO much time reading, listening, consuming Non-Duality it literally took over my life! But, I have quite an addictive personality so maybe I'm an extreme example, but I feel this happens with most of us and it's very beautiful but can also lead to neglect in other areas, so it's nice to dive back into other things

@fridjonk My point is it doesn't have to be either way, but can be whatever way that individual wants. If anything it was more about the integration of Stage Orange than an addiction to it, from my experience it seems Stage Orange is the most demonized in spiritual communities and one that is rarely properly integrated and it has always been this way. The stereotypical Hippie is the perfect example of this. I was merely stating that financial abundance doesn't mean someone isn't fully embodied or awake, and that one can have both that's all, I often end up going too extreme in my arguments that make it seem like I go to far, sorry! I also did this when attempting to explain the human dimension of spirituality, something I'm working on in my communication

@Nahm What do you mean mate? I'm confused whether this is sarcasm

@Keyhole We all deserve abundance, that's my point. And, yes but often that can be helped by offering help for those in financial trouble so they can also receive the teaching, this can often be sorted out with most teachers and I agree the teachings should ideally be made available to all However, if you work 1-1 with soemone you deserve to be compensated for your time but could of course adjust depending on your 'students' financial situation? Eventually, if I ever teach I would like to focus on 1-1 Sessions as I think it's the most direct and effective and will likely charge a fee for my time, however, if someone had no money I wouldn't turn him away but would work something out so he could still receive the teaching

I feel we may never agree on this, but I do feel one can fully embody awakening and still have a nice house, car, basically enjoy material things such as nice food and drinks. Also, isn't creating a business that provides huge value already part of an embodied awakening as you are actively helping people find solutions to their needs. A famous wealthy individual was asked what's the best way to earn money- 'Get outside of yourself and why you want money. Learn to get in your customer's shoes, understand their needs and their problems and then solve them and help them.' To me, that sounds like a very loving and fulfilling way to run a business! And, I agree Stage Orange isn't always like this, but those exploiting and benefitting from loopholes in our society will not prevail forever, a business that fulfills needs and helps people will. To me, running a business like that is part of an embodied awakening. The family comments- Yes but one needs balance, that's what I mean you can't work 24/7 and neglect your family, that isn't expressing love in your closest relationships at all in my eyes, it's hard to strike a balance! I don't agree ALL money made from a business should be used to create value, SOME can also be used in one's own life, of course, I'm not saying hoard excessive amounts like millionaires do, but enough so you can effortlessly live the lifestyle you desire for the rest of your life. I agree our lives should be devoted to helping others and service, however, this doesn't mean we should neglect our own lives and needs as a result. I watched an amazing Satsang on Loving Without Living recently, and it said about 'Receiving for the Sake of Sharing' which means literally what it says. But, to me it kind of feels you're slightly rejecting the receiving part, but, the Universe is constantly allowing us to receive absolutely everything it wants to share with us. So you receive lots of money from work say, you then share this with your loved ones (Nice House, material benefits, good schools etc) and then you also share beyond that and with those in need etc. I guess I'm trying to look at things in a slightly more balanced approach that doesn't negate your own needs and enjoyment but incorporates it all, and by increasing your own abundance you can also help increase others' abundance! You could call it 'Enlightened Greed' but by simply Receiving for the sake of sharing, you are working in allignment of the Universe and allowing yourself to benefit from what the Universe is giving you and the many joys of life, while always looking to share this with 'Others' which is yourself of course. To me, living in abundance is actually living in alignment with the Universe, and that living in poverty is actually not helpful at all, we all deserve abundance and as long as you are generous with the abundance we have been given, how are we not embodying Awakening? For me, post-awakening I have developed my business massively to focus more on helping people before profits and developing love in all areas of life. I still want to receive whatever the Universe gives me and enjoy these gifts 'Because these 2 are often at odds' I couldn't disagree more, living a life that helps others is the most fulfilling life possible, so you are actually benefitting from this without even knowing it potentially and there is no end to the depth of love we can give! ' Yes. The more we help others the happier we become. But once a certain point is reached helping more will decrease your happiness. That's the sweet spot in my opinion. My intention was to contrast embodied enlightenment from not embodied enlightenment. Because I think that answers the original question of this thread. And I don't say embodied enlightenment is better than not embodied enlightenment. But relatively speaking, there are pros and cons.' Nope, there is no end to how deep you can love or how much you can help, of course you have to take care of your own needs (I think I've said enough on that ) but there is no end to infinite love, how could there be? Embodied enlightenment to me means abiding as The Self, and knowing everyone is your very own self. Of course it goes way deeper, but that's an easy summary. You can live like this in various ways like I said whether it's as an athlete doing your best in your sport and doing what you love, or helping the poor, everyone's path of spreading love and living this understanding is different, there is no one path. I used to struggle with this topic, so will link a few videos from Rupert Spira that helped me in particular. gm

@Keyhole Who is to decide what someone 'needs' though, why can't a teacher enjoy nice holidays and things though? Don't they deserve a nice house and car? I see your points though and it shouldn't be taken to extremes, either way, however, post-awakening one can still enjoy luxuries in life, we don't have to live in poverty for example. After all, they are literally guiding people towards absolute peace and happiness, isn't that better than some Oil Company CEO taking your money?

Common issues. You can still have a girlfriend mate and grow spiritually, in fact they help expose your blind spots in regards to awakening often. You can enjoy partying, and embrace the joy in it. Learn to enjoy the gym and take a more holistic approach to health, aesthetics is one part of that. I also had a similar issue, but now focus on enjoying my workouts, progressing in strength and muscular development but the number one focus for me will always be health. MAybe you don't enjoy the Gym (I LOVE it) so find exercise you do enjoy and take that up, enjoyment is everything! Yep, but you can still enjoy games if you want and social media, just not as an escape but more as a source of enjoyment, your relationship to entertainment will change for the better, trust me. In regards to girls, either do a more Conscious form of typical pick up where you learn social skills but don't manipulate women, or get out and find a GF to develop a meaningful relationship. Spirituality should enhance your life, not make you live one you hate! However, sometimes, we need breaks from things to focus on other things.

a few resources that helped - https://non-duality.rupertspira.com/read/treat_everyone_and_everything_as_they_truly_are_224 https://www.google.com/amp/s/nondualityamerica.wordpress.com/2014/01/12/nonduality-teachers-and-money/amp/ @GreenWoods also regarding your last post, why not do both maximise your own happiness and so called “others” who are literally your very own self’s happiness? I don’t see why it has to be one or the other. In fact, sharing and loving and helping others often leads to greater levels of happiness and abundance, so in fact doing both is actually beneficial. I don’t see an issue with someone wanting to live a comfortable life and help others simultaneously. You can never perfectly embody enlightenment 100%, if you look at modern teachers such as Rupert Spira, Adyashanti, Francis Lucille, all of these earn money be deservedly so. Are they not embodying their awakening as a result? an embodied awakening doesn’t have to mean you go feed the poor, you could work at Starbucks and live an embodied Self-Realized life Also, do you have a problem with teachers earning money?

@GreenWoods Yeah you can't embody The Absolute perfectly or you'd literally have no experience of a Human, just Infinite Awareness (which is absolutely what we are) bit that alone, with no body, human experience etc. Unless you plan on dropping the body, you will have to play the game of Survival, of course it can be done more consciously Post-Awakening, I thought I made that quite clear in my post. I'll go through each point numerically from your first point. 1) Survival isn't merely a survival of the body, have you watched Leo's videos? That is beyond reductionist. Survival means your relationships, human psyche, personality and on on and on and on. It encompasses far more than just the body. Just because one has a desire for financial abundance does not necessarily mean they are 'Selfish', of course many Businessmen/women are, but that's another story. You can be an unselfish millionaire, just because you create wealth for yourself doesn't instantly mean Selfish, it should also be emphasized one person cannot save humanity by themselves in terms of altruism. Of course, we should donate to good causes, but just look at the Bill Gates foundation, throwing money at problems isn't the solution. These issues run way deeper and are far more systemic and require complex and nuanced solutions. 2) You can never perfectly express oneness, that is a ridiculous idea. Otherwise, you'd never eat as your prioritizing your needs over someone else's. I'm not even sure what you're suggesting wth this comment, but it is impossible to perfectly embody oneness, I thought that was obvious? You are of course going to have to favour yourself slightly in situations, otherwise you would give up all your possessions to those less fortunate and go and live on the streets, that's not very practical is it? This is literally the kind of survival I'm talking about, to survive means you will cause issues elsewhere, it's about doing the best we can. A full awakening actually realizes the humanity of oneself, a lot of early awakenings subtly reject duality, I did for a long time. To me this is the easy way out and allows for spiritual bypassing in so many areas of life, and actually prevents shadow work and integration which can be tough at times. So, yes, sometimes you will make decisions that benefits you/ closest to you- If you buy a house it means someone else who was interested in it can't have it, if you eat food, it means someone else can't eat it. 3) Not once did I say altruism = emotionless robot. What I said is that those who don't embody their humanity can become like a robot, some spiritual circles actually say having no feelings and thoughts 24/7 is the highest state, it's complete bullshit and literally the definition of Psychopathy to have a lack/ no emotions lol. Being Altruistic tends to involve duality funnily enough (even though as I said Duality= Non-Duality but for purpose of this I will separate the 2) as you are helping 'others' who are yourself but you get my point. 4) Never heard of spiritual ego then I see? Someone who gives away their possessions for the reason of being able to say, I gave away my possessions I'm so spiritual is as much ego as the Rapper boasting about how much money they make, it's all trying to act superior. Of course if one wishes to give away all possessions that' VERY different and that is just what they wish to do, however, it doesn't make one 'more spiritual' to do so. No, if one buys themselves luxury goods because they enjoy them and they are useful, why shouldn't they be allowed to? To me, this just seems like you have ideas of how Awakened beings must behave, but it just isn't the case, if an enlightened being wants a nice house does this suddenly mean they aren't awake? Again, I go back to that's basically saying if you eat that's saying this body is superior to others. Also, someone who doesn't buy nice things just because they're spiritual could also be operating from a Spiritual Ego standpoint as I said. And, sorry to break it to you a lot of 'Enlightened People' (don't actually exist, but at early stages of awakening they are often referred to) there is often a superiority complex of 'I'm enlightened, you're not' which can lead to issues. Look at the issues of Mooji and Bentino Massano to see this first hand. 5) It is an ever-deepening process, but while you are alive you can never embody it 100% it's near impossible as we have both already discussed. However, love can be deepened in many different ways and not just through Philanthropy/ Donations. For example, any billionaire can give away a few million, but can they stop work for a week and spend good quality time with their Kids and Grankids, for them that would be a deeper example of embodying love. And, yes an awakening to love is a key part of a true awakening which many don't have. Love will then express itself naturally in one's life as we embody this, but that doesn't necessarily mean we give up all our possessions and spend all of our days feeding the poor, it can be expressed in a number of ways. Always doing the best we can in any situation and always deepening our love, this never ends. Awakening is only the beginning of life. 6) As I have just mentioned, a Body/Mind can only do it's best in any situation and love is an ever-deepening process, we can't be perfect but we can always deepen love further, it literally has no end. 7) Here I guess you're suggesting all profits should be donated/ spent in an altruistic manner. However, I feel differently. I believe, if one creates a profitable business that is built on helping people and providing value, why shouldn't one enjoy the fruits of this in terms of material benefit. Of course, I am not saying to NEVER be philanthropic or donate, but I'm just saying you don't have to give away 100% of the profits to be 'Spiritual.' That is a complete fallacy in my eyes. In terms of my plans, yes I own my own businesses and yes I wish to create complete financial freedom for myself (sorry) and no I don't believe this makes me less spiritual or suddenly less awake lol. I will be very generous with my money of course and have plans to help my family very much so financially speaking, as well as eventually raise children and a family in a happy, healthy environment. Of course, I will also donate to charities and great causes, and may eventually even look to personally help causes I believe strongly in, or who knows to start my own. But, I will not deny money sorry. The Buddha actually has some good teachings on prosperity for 'Laymen' and says those who aren't monks should actually go out and earn as much as they can! Of course he also advocated being generous with this money, and also being sensible in terms of saving and investing. Maybe the Buddha knew that money is simply energy hey I just want to make it clear, I believe embodying love and kindness and altruism to the greatest of our abilities is a huge key on our journeys, and being generous with money is also essential (counter-intuitively this creates more abundance in one's life) and receiving for the sake of sharing is something I live my life by, without sharing what would life be? Whenever something happens, we want to share it as much as possible. Just because one creates abundance does not been they are instantly 'Selfish' in fact it could be the very opposite, that you get there by helping people, how is that in any way selfish? Philanthropy isn't the only way to show love, but is, of course, an incredible way. I just don't agree that you can't be both wealthy and 'spiritual' I have tried to answer your questions in as much detail as possible, but if you have any more please do ask and I'd be happy to answer Also, I would be really careful to not create money issues that end up in your shadow by conflating selfishness and greed with Money, this will actually prevent you truly understanding the energy of money and abundance and lead to more issues further down the line. I have just read all your other responses also, and yes I agree with The Self itself is the Guiding principle post-awakening and integration, and this pretty much means you live from a place of love and truth, although nobody is perfect. However, it doesn't mean you have to give away all of the money that you don't need always, it means you live a life full of giving and helping 'others' when in reality you are only ever helping, talking or seeing yourself. Therefore, knowing everyone to be your brother and sister how could you then act in any other way? Why would you want to hurt yourself? Also, in terms of giving away money, I agree hoarding beyond a protective amount is pointless. But, you could also invest money in a conscious way to help businesses/ things you believe in grow and in return create even more value for the world. While I agree that philanthropy is important, I feel you're looking at things in quite a reductionist manner in terms of how we can express love and The Self, there is an infinite amount of ways we can embody infinite love. In regards to your stage orange comment YES! That is the issue, I am literally saying to create a business FIRST that is built on helping people, not a stage orange Profit only business, these are the sorts of businesses that will also outlive Stage Orange, that's my point and are actually benefiting humanity!

@crab12 Yeah, the SD thing is common around here lol. And yep I was the same when I was a hardcore seeker, I almost felt bad earning money from business etc, when in reality money is just an energy, and you can earn it consciously in a way that provides value for you and the customer. And, yes many businesses do exactly what you said, unfortunately too many don't but, in the long term (50+ years) it'll be the businesses that evolve to focusing on providing value and holding good principles that actually prevail. Profit/ Rich people aren't evil at all, I mean some are but it's not because they have money that they're bad people. There's also amazing rich people and great businesses that make a profit by providing value, that's the kind of business that is actually fulfilling as well. I mean there's plenty of depressed and unhappy rich people because they simply never gave up chasing profit in either an unethical business or one they weren't at all passionate about. So, if you are going to create a business, create one that truly helps people, and that truly provides a form of value to their lives! Or, if you are an employee, ideally work for a company that is helping people, not like a PayDay loan company or something that aims to exploit it's customers.