Tim R

The Dhammapada is some good shit indeed? http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp05.htm

I can guarantee you that if you take an online test to find out if you are wise, then are dejected by the result, and then come to a forum looking for solace and confirmation for such a narcissistic belief as "I am wise", then you are not nearly as wise as you would like to believe (sounds harsh, I know). That being said, I must add that to a certain extent, everybody is wise and everybody is a fool. That's because the two are essentially the same, they are on a spectrum (metaphorically speaking). The fool believes himself to be wise, the wise man knows himself to be a fool. Which means that paradoxically, your desire to become wise is foolish - as it must be, by definition. So how can you feel disappointed to be a fool? How could you become wise if you aren't a fool to begin with? See? That's why C. G. Jung said "the fool is the precursor to the savior." Realizing that you are a fool and loving the fool within is how you become wise. Not by rejecting yourself. Therefore, rejecting foolishness is foolishness. And this repulsion and disappointment that you feel when I or the online test tell you that you are a fool - that's the rejection of yourself. That's what prevents you from becoming wise.

It's one thing to let someone believe what they want, it's something else to let them express their ideology on a privately owned forum. Nobody is entitled to express their political views here.

Ok before you leave, just give me the links to the threads pls?

I don't think anybody ever got banned for merely expressing conservative views on this forum. It depends on the way these views are expressed and yes, to some degree on what concretely these views are . Could you maybe give a few examples (just link the threads) so that I can understand what exactly you mean? Of course there's a bias towards the left here, what did you expect? The left isn't merely "opposed" to the right, it's literally a higher stage of cognitive and moral development, as arrogant as this might sound. But the higher a person's moral and cognitive development is, the more left-leaning he/she will be perceived. Conservatism has its valuable sides and there's a lot to appreciate in conservatism. But it fails in the long run no matter what, because you can't conserve anything, everything falls apart, changes and develops. And when you deeply understand that, you will seize to be conservative because you see that its's a loosing game.

"When you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." - Linji Yixuan This was the first Koan I ever understood and it's probably one of the most important things you can realize on the path. And I know for sure that there's a whole bunch of you who haven't understood it yet and who for this very reason are on this forum. Leo / Buddha / Guru / Master / Teacher / more awake / higher consciousness / enlightened / authority / scripture / holy text / etc. None of the above are real. All authority is your authority. You watch Leo's videos, you read Leo's posts and think that his words have authority. They don't. You have assigned authority to them. You are the only authority in you entire life. Every decision, every belief, every scripture and every Guru - you have been the authority behind them. You have created the Guru. Do not sell your soul to others. Do not subjugate yourself to projected authority. Reclaim your sovereignty.

@Blackhawk Untrammeled fearmongering and a perceived lack of security is what gives rise to totalitarianism in the long run. The desire to eliminate threats at any cost (privacy/individuality) is what creates a society where the individual isn't an individual any longer. It creates a kind of Panopticon where a very small and powerful minority controls the rest of society by having abolished their privacy and made them slaves to their own cravings for "security". And maybe they are "secure". But at what cost? Because if I know you through and through, you are no longer a threat. And those who can, will abuse this. Say, have you heard of a country named China? Have you read what happened in the USSR? Where neighbors were spying and snitching on each other to save their own selfish ass? Don't get me wrong, to a certain extent it's very necessary to give up privacy, i.e. individuality. But if you think that "security" is all that matters, you will lose both privacy and security, that's for sure. Because a complete lack of privacy is anything but safe.

*every totalitarian regime, ever*

@Someone here Not sure. But first how do you collapse that duality in the first place? Something seems to be happening and it's self-evident undeniably true. "Something happening, movement/progression" is falsehood. But "Nothing happening, stagnation/standstill" is also falsehood. So what's left? Whatever answer one might give to that is wrong. This is a mystery. It really is and it is not a problem. Something happening and nothing happening are identical. It's neither. Listen to the leaves rustling in the wind.

This is an absolute gold mine? Edit: here's the full version

This is the video Leo shared on his blog And this is the video that made me want to start this thread?

Holy shit that's good

No. That's just saying "time" using other words. What do you think is left when you collapse the duality between "something happening" and "nothing happening"?

Really?? won't they think you're crazy and leave? Using 5-MeO to access enlightenment is one thing, using it to pick up girls is true god mode??

Actually, I wouldn't mind? Because tbh, I still don't know why you said "Jesus".

Having read from and listened to a lot of teachers. @Nahm Now I'm intrigued. You're (we're?) speaking metaphorically... Could you explain the metaphor? Because when someone says "Jesus", I'm thinking of the historical Jesus of Nazareth and not of a metaphor, whether it's a metaphor for God or Love or whatever. Or maybe give us a few names of the teachers you mentioned??

@Leo Gura Can we have a "Epistemic Madness Examples Mega Thread"? For things like what you've postet on your blog (QAnon Karen) or this; There seems to be absolutely no limit whatsoever to the minds capacity of making up bullshit and delusion. This is truly fascinating. Yesterday, Leo posted this on his blog: I propose that we open an "Epistemic Madness Examples Mega Thread" where we can post examples like this to see and study to what lengths the mind will go to delude itself..

That sounds interesting, could you elaborate?

Who abides in what is not ultimate? Buddhism is about nonduality. But they make not fetish out of "higher levels of consciousness".

Why the necessity?

@Leo Gura Yes, but unlike you, Buddhism is not interested in finding out what reality is. They are interested in liberation, which 1. doesn't require the realization of infinity 2. is why they focus so much on no-self and emptiness. Because that's essentially all you need for liberation. The burning desire for "understanding reality" won't stand you in good service when it comes to liberation, even though in order to find liberation, you must understand certain facets of reality (no-self, emptiness, love). "Understanding reality" can be, and in most cases is, an extremely egoic and narcissistic enterprise.

@Goldzilla Ok. Let's be open minded here and suppose for a moment that you are right and that with ever advanced levels of consciousness, physical ailments are beginning to disappear - how exactly does that work? Like if I have liver cirrhosis or cancer or diabetes, how do you suppose will enlightenment heal me from that??

Now we're getting to the core of the problem. "How does the illusion of time work?" Just because there is only the present, that doesn't mean that you can't have memories. Because memories are not something which are the result of the past. "The past" is the result of memories. And so is the future (future = projection of memories, that's what we call "anticipation"). That's the whole trick. We got it backwards you see? We think that memories come out of the past. But they don't. They also come out of the present and create an illusion that something "was". But there never "was" anything. There only is. Everything is always now. Inspect your memories. Do they create the sensation of there being a past? or is there a past which creates the memories? What you call "past" is memories. Not the other way round (memories being the result of past). That's the "mechanism" by which the illusion of time is created. And so this is really all you have to understand. How memories fool you into thinking that "the past" creates the present with its memories. All memories are now. All anticipation is now. Everything that happens, happens now. Nothing ever "happened" and nothing "will" ever happen. Memories are not proof for a past. They are images which come out of now just like everything else. Tbh I don't know how to explain this any better. It's totally obvious once you got it. Maybe there's someone else here who wants to give it a shot. But ultimately, you really just have to realize that memories are not the result of the past, but that it's the other way round and that that's the whole illusion of "time".

What on earth makes you guys think that one's "LOC" has anything to do with being physically ill?? Where did you get this silly and naive idea? There's hundreds of very great teachers and sages who had some struggle with physical health in their life. I've read some pretty f'ed up claims and questions on this forum but this definitely made it into my top 3?? how come this thread is still not closed lol You guys need to learn how to keep a certain level of epistemic hygiene...

@Ilan Why do you even want him try AL-LAD? Like.. what's your goal??