LfcCharlie4

@Carl-Richard Haha I do get it takes away from other pursuits, but to be honest, I think the average user on here from what I've seen could do with a LOT more real world time & experience, not less that's all And, of course different personalities require different amounts of socializing, I'm quite extroverted and always looking for the next event & social meet up, whereas, others may be more happy living an introverted point I guess it comes back to, it doesn't really matter as its your life just live Also, while 'no others' is a fundamental absolute truth, it can be dangerous on a 'relative' level if not integrated with other realizations, I think one of the main reasons so many people struggled during covid & young people struggle in general is a lack of real human interaction, contact & connection, hence why I think its important people do at least learn to socialize, and then find the right social life for them

Here's an idea- Do what suits your personality & enjoy. If you wanna become a social expert, go study it and have fun & enjoy socializing If you're naturally introverted, learn the basics and build a social life that makes you happy, maybe its a partner and literally 1 true friend, for others they love parties, gatherings, socializing etc Its not that deep, just like some people prefer playing sports, some people prefer making art Its your life, enjoy it, dunno why people put so much weight on what someone says

@Optimized Life Lol this is true. I would bet good money 80% of members here don't have a grip on social / relationship skills, financial wellbeing, physical & mental health etc yet are spending their time debating in a Non-Dual echo chamber. Honestly majority of members here would benefit from traditional 'orange' practical self help that everyone loves to bash far more than spending time here & philosophizing Non-Duality

@undeather That could be the best meme ever Your quote fits it perfectly too

'There is nothing to develop' Be careful using absolute Non-Dual insights in the relative world. If you don't develop for example, and have no job, no relationships, poor health etc then your life will be shit, its as simple as that/ This is where Neo-Advaita can be dangerous imo, Rupert Spira speaks about how true non-duality doesn't involve denying the world & experiencing but loving it even more than before. Maybe instead of personal development, see it as integration & the living of spirituality through creating a life you love

Yep, agree. No harm in doing both simultaneously imo, but I do feel people shit on 'Stage Orange' around here while having little income, poor diet / exercise, lack of routine, little discipline etc.

@VeganAwake You're free to enjoy & employ any teachings you want but to me, Neo-Advaita is just bollocks & genuinely dangerous I'm not saying it doesn't help certain people who are ready for that teaching (you are one of them clearly) But just repeating the same thing, making $100000's travelling the world on retreats & selling books as an individual (unless this money is going to this 'nobody'?) then saying there's nobody there, nothing this is happening to etc is just hilarious to me Also, just talking from experience, going through that stage, was the least fulfilling & enjoyable, the 'No-Self' denial of life just left me wanting more, but if it works for you, that's cool, its just personally I prefer a more tantric approach from teachers such as Francis Lucille & My own teacher Ananda. But, if you're happy & enjoying life that's all that matters, if these teachers 'did it' for 'you' then enjoy liberation! I just personally think there is underlying dangers in these teachings, especially since a lot of seekers come with underlying mental health issues, lack of life experience & often unstable life conditions, so I think its very unskilful of them often. I am also biased though, so who knows!

@Razard86 Yah, I just mean the perception to be awakened you have to go live in India on a hill and can't participate in life

Haha, not every awakened being is a perfect saint living in a diaper like Ramana There's degrees of integration, personality types, culture, habits, upbringing etc etc I think a lot of 'spiritual' people think once they attain this magical enlightenment that's it and life's done But no, you'll still shit, feel pain if someone smacks you in the face & get kicked out your house if you don't pay rent Imo, you become even more human, as you actually get in touch with feeling & embrace it instead of being comfortably numb I'm also assuming most people on here are very young in comparison to most teachers, so there's a lot of life left to live There's a good chance your favorite guru fucks, drinks / smokes or used to, has issues in their personal life & doesn't live in a mountain meditating 10 hours a day Tbh, I've never understood why a lot of seekers wanna become like blocks of wood with no emotion / feeling, life is fun, and its even more fun after awakening

Lol. I can't remember who it was, but someone just said imagine your Child was ill and you went to the hospital and some doctor had adopted these Neo-Advaita teachings, yeah your child is dying but its all good because 'there's nobody there', 'nobody this is happening to' Also, I'd look out for a lot of scandals from these kind of teachers (not saying Jim Newman but in general) where the whole nobody there, nothing happening to noone spiel will be used as the excuse- How can anything with 'no' be the final answer? Sure, there's a time and a place to expose someone to the neti neti approach & what not, but as a parrot answer to every question, I'd say that's the furthest thing from Skilled Teaching. Plus, they never go beyond the 'No' 'Not' 'Nobody' and the truth is far beyond the negatives Imo, its quite a hollow, empty teaching, one you don't want to be stuck in

I think this is a pretty perfect way to look at it. If you wanna go beyond, a good comparison I like is that The Self is inherently free & therefore as you awaken and live from this place instead of 'little me' your ability to manifest, live with love, live in alignment etc only continues to grow and expand not diminish. When you obsess over having / not having free will, it just becomes mental masturbation on a smaller level and can even lead to what I call 'No-self Nihilism' where you see 'enlightened gurus' abusing their power under the guise of 'nothing matters, there's nobody there' etc, which is even more dangerous than your average nice person with a healthy 'ego.' In terms of the 'pre-destined' view point, I wouldn't buy into it too much, sure there's likely an astrological outline or whatever for your life, but if you go shoot heroin or jump in front of a bus that would fuck it up a little bit, follow intuition & good feelings, I personally spent a lot of time trying to mentally understand a fuck ton of concepts and in the end it drives you crazy haha. If you can, find a teacher you resonate with to work with 1-1, that's what helped me more than anything, Satsangs etc are great, but most the time yoiur listening to other people's specific issues / hang ups, and maybe get 5 minutes to discuss your own

The essence of these beings

I don't often disagree with @Michael569 but I couldn't disagree more if I tried! Bitcoin & Crypto is about as conscious as possible when you research deeply and aren't looking for quick cash. The premise of BTC originally was built on freedom from central banks & P2P cash transfer, of course Crypto has evolved, as has the blockchain, but the premise of DeCentralisation remains. I am not gonna argue there's certainly big players & corruption like in all markets, but I'd recommend researching deeply before investing, and finding projects & businesses you believe in inside the crypto space as well of course the blue chips like Bitcoin & Ethereum. The space is still very new and is continuously evolving, this bear market is the perfect time to research and begin your investing journey in the crypto space, those that do best, like in any sector of life, tend to specialize and develop expertise in one area, so that's what I recommend.

To be honest, a lot of spiritual & non-dual folks may shit on therapy & traditional psychology but I think near enough all of us could benefit from some form of it. You mentioned abuse & coping mechanisms. sounds like you need a good old therapist. As much as the Neo-Advaitans might tell you there's nobody there, if the trauma / feelings still arise around certain issues, there is literally no downside to getting it looked into and hopefully resolved. Forgetting you're still a human being is one of the main reasons you see all these Gurus developing crazy cults or having sex / abuse scandals.

Yeah, I'd say he knows when someone is basically begging him to say something, when in reality he knows its up to them to find it out themselves. He's been at it 15 years, he's pretty good, although I believe there's only so much someone can do when they're given 10 minute question slots, personally I think 1-1 is far more effective. Just like how if you wanted to get really good at a sport you'd hire a 1-1 coach, group sessions can help, but the 1-1 is where the magic happens. However, I understand with mainstream teachers like Spira, Tolle etc that'll never happen and their 'role' is different.

The Power Of Now when I was 16 haha Best Non-Duality book is 1000 by Ramaji imo, cleared up 100000 questions I had & led me to Ananda (& RASA) who was the perfect teacher for me. Rupert Spira's 'You are the happiness you seek' is awesome too.

Not linear, do both But, personally I think when you're young you should experience life as much as possible, not saying don't focus on practices and what not, but don't neglect other areas of life

@Johnny Galt I also wouldn't be surprised if the opposition parties in most countries also have ties to the WEF, they can't let the silly public ruin their agenda now can they!

+1000

Guess its a little bit of an SD / Spirituality question. But, how does humanity get to a point where it goes 'beyond' wars? I don't necessarily mean individual conflicts, but more on an overall level, in that, tensions are settled differently than war threats or actual conflict. Is this even a possibility? Is war something that will basically go on forever in some capacity?

Haha, I'm only 22 and 100% want to get married and have a huge family. Maybe I'm too traditional, and I know it isn't for everyone, but the idea of marriage & having a family seems great to me once you're ready for it (and I believe that differs for everyone) I also think Marriage / Family really helps sort a lot of people's lives out, almost like the meaning of family, helps them create e meaningful life in a myriad of other ways. But, I'm also very extroverted & social, so the idea of having a busy household, lots of family events, lots of sporting events etc, etc, sounds absolutely brilliant to me, for others that might sound like hell, we all have our preferences. One thing I would say is don't do it for the sake of it, do it because you want to! @Nahm it's certainly something on my dream board

This is the other video, I feel you may resonate with the questioner- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O937dHmNxE

Best I've heard is from Francis Lucille who really helped me understand this, Essentially- your happiness isn't dependent on the outcome, so let's say you play a sport and want to win (of course) but if you lose, you're not suddenly going to become depressed forever, and if you win you'll of course feel joy, elevation what not, but its not going to be the reason you're happy. Also, another video that helped was a student asked Rupert Spira 'why do anything' (a more vague version of your question I guess) And he basically said- Practical Reasons e.g. Survival (similar to your example, you need money to live & people need housing) Then (ideally) simply as an expression of Happiness, Joy, love, fun, beauty etc, instead of in the search of these things. So, like watching a movie simply because you want to enjoy it Having a deep relationship with someone as an expression of love, not as a means to escape negative feelings. Here's the two videos that helped me with these questions- This also relates pretty heavily to advanced LOA / Manifestation / Conscious Creation techniques, I'm sure @Nahm can fill in where I miss, but from my reading, you start from happiness / Joy and then manifest from there for the fun & joy of it, from love simply because you want to experience that, and have the ability to create whatever the hell you want, so why not? Instead of, coming from a place of lack and thinking XYZ will fulfil you / make you happy, you come from Happiness / Love and create the life you want, simply because you want to, and that is unique to everyone, so for you, that may involve filling your investment properties, but goes far beyond that. So, simply start creating the life you know you will love because its fun. Spirituality doesn't mean giving up on life and becoming a rock ( I used to think that) its actually the opposite and makes life 10000x better

@Tim R Agree. I think it may be unpopular to say this on a forum like this but I believe healthy competition (Sports, Games etc) is also very helpful in guiding this, as it gives humans an outlet for energy, passion, aggression etc in a much more healthy manner. Of course things go too far (football hooligans for example) but even then, its gotten so much better compared to 30-40 years ago and Is certainly going in the right direction. Its going to take way beyond our lifetime to see any kind of world co-operation I imagine. @Joel3102 That's kinda what motivated me to post this, however, I wonder if anyone has ever looked into / programmed an AI to see how many events have been dubbed as potential 'WW3' since WW2?

So thankful to live in the UK when compared to countries like Australia & even Canada talking to some friends. I was on the phone to an Australian and he was saying in his state / province in peak summer they were only allowed 1 hour of exercise even when there was sub 10 deaths / day and less than a 1000 cases, absolute madness. Luckily, over here people haven't lost all grasps of reality (except those who have become famous 'relevant' as a result of fear mongering) and Vaccine passports have been scrapped, restrictions dropped & there's no talk of endless boosters, just one a year like the Flu. We're also hopefully getting rid of Vaccine mandates for health workers. It shows that when there is pushback (100+ politicians voted against these measures) that things can change which is good to see! To be honest though, its been kinda normal here since July, with a few hiccups around Christmas time, but the majority seem like they are done with restrictions since the booster rollout and want their lives back.