Moksha

@Flowerfaeiry Many people think that ego is about feeling superior to someone else. The ego is nefarious, in that way. It is also about feeling inferior. All it wants is to feel different. It really doesn't care about superiority/inferiority, so much as about specialness. I resonate with you. You are hard on yourself. You could have done a better job. It was your fault. She wouldn't have punched you, if you had done it differently. All of that is judgment, which is the calling card of the ego. When you feel judgment, toward others, or in (our) case toward ourselves, be sure that it is egoic. The antidote to the ego is love, forgiveness, and spaciousness. Toward yourself, and toward others. Judgment is the opposite of love. You have nothing to prove, just love and be. ?

Game of thrones ? The ice wall is the iconic illusion of separation, the differentiation of the white walkers of the north from the forgone humans behind the wall. Riveting, but ultimately what if we are all the same actor? Nothing more riveting than a good story.

States only exist in relative reality. Ultimate reality is changeless. Not to dismiss the soul journey, which is from state to state, and is worthy of honor as such, but is still simply a form within the dream.

Enlightenment is nothing more than lucid dreaming. Awareness of being in the dream, and of your changelessness beyond the dream, even while within the dream. ?

Normies still suffer. The path out of suffering is seeing the suffering for what it is, which is sublimely simple, yet still so difficult for most, until they finally see. The mind is a trap which isn't easily escaped. You are on the journey of realizing yourself as the Storyteller, rather than having your story told. The secret is to celebrate every step, and not worry so much about where the journey takes you.

ACIM introduction says it all. The ego is unreal, and therefore presents no ultimate threat. Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.

Spoken like a true ego-noncentric If you truly don't care if you are the shark or the prey, that is a solid step toward Self-realization. You are all forms, and the essence of you is beyond all forms. You are the Creator, expressing your essence through the forms that you create. The game is to lose, and then find, yourself in your creations.

? The pivotal question is this: are you equally eager to be the smaller fish?

One of the most sincere answers to this question comes from Tolle: The essence of who you are is beyond death. That comes out of inner realization. I don’t know much beyond that. You’ll have to wait and see when you actually die. The secret is not to care what happens, but to realize the joy in here and now. Let go of the need for knowing, and celebrate being.

Tolle's The Power of Now is exceptional; who cares what book list it is on? Simple truth is spring water, and is best for the soul. For myself, I can't choose just one. That said, I love the Bhagavad Gita. Nothing has moved me more.

My first glimpse of god was sleeping out on my front lawn as a kid, and staring into the endless expanse of stars. I didn't know what it meant, but it was awesome all the same. ?

It's funny, in a satirical sense, that we rob ourselves of joy, by chasing after what is already here. The monkey mind is such a charlatan. Philosophy, religion, and scientific theory promise to deliver answers, and yet they always fall short of serenity. Who knew that it was all about letting go of knowing, and simply being?

⚡ The moment you realize who you really are, the ego dissolves. It is nothing more than seeing clearly, within the dream. The ego thrives on specialness, and awakening is the opposite of specialness. It is convergence. Your eyes open, and you see the sameness in everything. It is all Consciousness, manifesting itself in myriad ways, but always the same Consciousness. There is no "better than", no "worse than", no "transcendence", and no "defeat", from the ultimate perspective. Only creativity, expression, art, storytelling...all within the relative dimension of the dream. The dream is born of you, and as such is part of you, but ultimately, you are the infinite, changeless Dreamer of dreams.

If you were awake, you would see that you are both the shark and the weaker fish. There is no representation of enlightened consciousness. Consciousness is everything, and every nothing. It is entirely nondual.

I hear you. Any ideology is treacherous. Maybe boredom itself is a product of the conditioned mind. When you are present, how can you be bored? Life is infinitely vibrant, when your eyes are open. This morning, a bird with a broken wing passed by my window. A blue jay saw the weakness, and attacked the bird and carried it away. The blue jay was doing what it does, but strangely, from my perspective, is seemed an act of mercy. Nature works itself out. I'm not Buddhist, but I have resonated with the words of the Buddha. It's not about ideas, thoughts, or emotions. It is all about realizing the source of your suffering, and the ending of it.

Asking for thoughts = asking why Thoughts are devilry. Peace is being.

My advice: stay way from evangelicals. They tend to be about beliefs, judgment, and self-indulgent emotions, all of which are bait for the conditioned mind. If you are pulled toward religion, Unitarian Universalist or Buddhism are better bets. Even there, see it as a step in your spiritual journey, which is so much simpler and more beautiful than any religion can deliver. You already are, you just don't know it yet.

Should is just another word for ? Do what drives you. Be what brings you peace. Love what resonates. You are the Storyteller, so tell the best damn story every told.

Narcissism sounds a lot like solipsism

It is more of a realization than a transcendence. You aren't defeating the ego, so much as seeing it for what it really is. And when you do, you will laugh

The secret to distrusting the conditioned mind is simple: Suffer. When you have suffered enough, your eyes will open, and you will directly realize the source of your suffering. All this time, it was the monkey mind making you miserable. Only then will you have the strength to sacrifice its constant chatter to the void. Sweet, sweet silence at last ? Don't be fooled, though. Just because you have awakened doesn't mean the monkey is dead. It will constantly try to climb back out, and whisper into your ear. Vigilance and single-pointed attention will keep you safe, which as it turns out, is the point of practicing meditation. ?‍♂️

The question is not whether everything is real (which is true), but how everything is real. Ultimate reality is objectively real. It is timeless, changeless, and depthless. Relative reality is subjectively real. Spacetime and the cosmos are not absolute, but depend on the perspective of the perceiver. The ocean is real, as are the transient waves that endlessly arise from and return to it. Everything and every nothing is all still Consciousness.

Define reality. Ultimate reality is. Relative reality (aka illusion) also is. Yes, it is born of ultimate reality, but as such, it is still infused with reality. Is the wave not also the ocean? Reality is all of the above. There can be only one. ?

@Heaven Simness is sameness

God is both the player and the game. It is ultimate and relative reality. It is the dreamer and the dream.