Gesundheit

First of all you need to make sure you've questioned the materialist paradigm to death. You must reach a level where have no doubts that it's just a paradigm or an idea that you hold in your mind. This should become crystal clear to you at least intellectually. And then by practicing mindfulness and focusing awareness on the mere fact that you actually exist, that there is something here being experienced, that'll create moments of epiphany, which should stick. You could watch some videos on YouTube for assistance. There's a lot of techniques but I recommend you stick with a few even though it's good to practice some of the others occasionally.

@JosephKnecht @Mu_ Sigh. People don't seem to recognize humorous analogies anymore. Or perhaps they're afraid of something imaginary, of their ideas. Either way, sigh.

@mandyjw

What is the point of anything?

For example when someone says: this is stupid. What he or she actually means is that this seems stupid from their pov. This is something I've struggled with for a long time. I tend to always express myself authentically and tend to use language in an assertive manner. Somehow this used to trigger some people and they criticized me for it even though I have good understanding of what relativity means I just leave it implicit. Looking back now in retrospect I realize that these people were probably neurotic or that they'd learned about relativity recently. So for them it seemed like I was talking in an absolute sense when in fact I was simply expressing myself and my relative point of view. They wanted me to explicitly expres my relative pov. Somehow they imprinted me with the idea that I should never talk in an assertive manner and it's exhaustive uou know. I had to go out of my way to fake language I don't even want to use so that they would not critisize me. I want my freedom back. With this insight today I don't have to limit myself any more. I am free to express myself however I see fit. And now that I think about it, if we choose to imply relativity in every sentence it's actually a lot more powerful. If we make relativity the initial assumption for everything we receive from the outside world, think of how powerful that can be. You will never need to worry whether or not something you've heard is true because you know that it's relative to the speaker. I am free.

The best practices for increasing consciousness are the ones that you've never done before. Master one practice at a time up to 70% and then explore some other practice. The final 30% is difficult to achieve anyways so be wise about that.

?? Thanks for putting this here.

The thing is that you're already experiencing non-duality. Only you aren't aware of that. Life is a mystical experience, not any different than a dream. The materialist paradigm is probably the main reason for why most people don't see this obvious fact. Most people see life as a mundane thing when it's actually the strangest thing ever. Train your awareness to see the mystical nature of reality in the present moment. That'll increase your consciousness. At some point you will have an epiphany that: Of course! It has always been mystical!

@actualizing25 Look up Baha'ism

@Forestluv @Leo Gura although now that I think about it I do wonder. Suppose I have a position that I realize is completely relative yet I go on debating others for it. My relationship with the position is not necessarily related to it being objectively absolutely true. A lot of times for me it was pride and ego. I fully recognized the relativity of my position yet I would not admit it's relative. Or maybe I would admit that but would still argue for it as if it was correct. I mostly wanted to be agreed with so that I could control the narrative, even though some other times I thought my position was actually "better" than others' in the sense that I thought I knew better than them which I am still convinced till this day it may be correct. It's something that needs further inspection on my part I should say. But I'd like to hear your thoughts if you'd like to emphasize or comment.

I am dumb, deeply ignorant. Yet act sometimes arrogantly. The ego is a tricky beast. I wonder why I would defend something I know is completely imaginary and not merely that, but also don't want or even like. I should be the one owning my ego not the other way around. But who's the one saying that?! God will forgive me.

@James123 absolutely because it does not make sense to the intellect it rather speaks to the heart

So true. I'm only beginning to realize these nuances.

@Leo Gura sadly true

@Leo Gura Iran is mostly Shia and the gulf is mostly Sunni. That makes them polar opposites and easy for exploitation by secular countries.

@Leo Gura Love it! Always implied

Of course. Democracy emerges from Orange's capitalism or maybe they work hand in hand or both simultaneously? The middle east is still below orange so it makes sense. The problem though is that being poor and/or at war handicaps all development, which raises questions about Israel. Why did the west decide that Israeli people belong in the middle east and not some other place? It seems like another way of exploitation both of Arabs and Jews especially at their level of development where religion is a serious problem. So it creates a ripple effect. Neither Arabs or Jews will be able to move up the spiral as long as they're busy fighting each other.

@Leo Gura I wanna say thank you for everything but it still wouldn't be enough. I owe the biggest part of my growth to you. I'm waiting for Understanding Relativity part2 and I believe a lot of people are the same. Is it close on your list?

@Leo Gura The way I see it is that they're both benefiting from each other. The gulf is afraid of potential Iranian expansion and so they're creating this alliance with the US just in case. The price of being underdeveloped in a world where science is key is to submit to a higher force. So if it's not the US it would be China or Russia.

Wait are you saying that oil is not important? That the west is funding the middle east.? The world has the east as well, China is the biggest industrial country in the world as far as I know.

Stay with the negative emotions. They're healthy as long as you're embracing them and not trying to repress or escape them.

Most of them are underdeveloped, true. BUT many of them are very rich, probably richer than most other countries. See this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production You'll see a majority of Muslim countries in the top 20, with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran in the top 5 countries, the former two which are very similar countries historically, logistically, geographically (albeit not very much), and basically in most other areas. The difference between Saudi Arabia and Iraq today is that one chose to cooperats with the US ages ago while the other refused. So that's the main factor for why these two particular countries are very different. It's different to assess each other Muslim country. It's very difficult and it requires deep research. But still, even Saudi Arabia and Dubai are not that much evolved. Blue/Orange at best. They buy experts from all over the world with their money. In a sense they're utilizing their money in a good way but they still have got long ways to go as people. Also, leadership is a crucial factor. Saddam for example was in a constant war with neighbouring countries like Quwait and Iran while Saudi Arabia was more peaceful which made them progress relatively better.

Idk. It sounds more like a motivational speech than teaching to me tbh

I find this little representation interesting. I've found it somewhere here on the forum. To me, the two largest circles are almost identical. And many times I speak things that I don't even think about. This is odd, I wasn't like that at all. I feel hyper-aware as a baseline level but I still have some "bad" times. One of the best practices for relaxing the mind and enhancing awareness in my experience is letting go, albeit a bit tricky since it should also be let go of. I'm not a teacher so I'm not gonna try to explain that. But yeah, it's very crucial to lose yourself, to forget who you are, to get with the present moment, and to enter a state of flow. To achieve this state, all resistance needs to be dropped. That is true freedom!

@iceprincess Raise your self-esteem.