snowyowl

@28 cm unbuffed sorry to hear about all the trauma and pain, loneliness is a tough one because we can end up stuck in a loop with the loneliness sapping confidence, feeling a bit depressed and making it harder to go out and meet people. You seem to be putting most of your energy into your work, well that's good but I sense that you'd like friends too, so I'd suggest taking some time away from work to socialise a bit and break out of the loop. I asked about reality because of your comment I quoted in my previous post - it sounded like you had a breakthrough understanding reality, the meaning of life and attachments. If so have you got a better insight into what makes you happy and unhappy, and what to do about it? Looking back over my life, I've had long periods of depression, unemployment and loneliness too, spiritual practice alone wasn't a magic wand to sort me out, I guess it took a while to appreciate the importance of relationships and career, as well as conventional help from counsellors and doctors. You seem to look back on your last girlfriend as the cause of your negative energy in the last 5 or 6 years - time to let go now surely? I just subscribed to your YT channel but then realised most of it is in Polish, never mind I'll have a watch anyway

@28 cm unbuffed sorry if my earlier post wasn't helpful. "I also know why I did that - 1. I never have been in love, 2. when I was younger I wanted to be rich and famous and later I decided all of these are nonsense and I want to discover the truth about why the fuck am I here and what life is all about. Now, when I understood reality and all of this - old attachment kicked to pull me back. " I can relate to your feeling controlled by attachments, aren't we all to some extent! Do you still think it's nonsense to be in love? And where are you up to in developing a career & life purpose? In terms of conventional psychology, I'd say the basics are around sorting our love lives and careers, I think Freud said something like that. What is your understanding of reality now? Big question of course, to cut to the chase, what in your reality is making you unhappy? If it's attachments then that's a good place to work on now. Maybe you could share the details but I totally understand if not.

"I wouldn't say a distinction is purely mind created.. It is definitely inherent in things themselves. For example you don't project or imagine the difference between a hot and a cold drink. You can actually feel the difference between the two." In this example the difference is in the feeling after the drink has interacted with your body and created a reaction. Does the difference exist before the interaction? Maybe it's like Schrodinger's cat, just a possibility not an actual thing. "However the distinction between somethingness and nothingness seems unclear to me. Also distinction between real and imaginary seems like a mental projection (thinking of dreams as an example)." Me too, what's it like when the mental projecting takes a rest and the distinction collapses? If it really doesn't matter whether This is real or imaginary, like when there's no survival threat to you, it's great, you can let go and be free.

@Someone here yeah, in other words, what is distinction made of? When you say, 'that is a thing', or 'that is empty space, nothing', is it real or imagined in thought? Don't believe me, observe yourself. Can you even actually find the distinction inherent in this whole thread, what is real, what is imaginary? How about that tree or that car?

I can totally relate. But try to remember that children all develop at their own pace. Seen from the SD lens, kids start at beige and grow up through the stages. This could be an encouraging sign she is moving into blue, perfect for an 8 year old, and will develop her individuality and own beliefs later on, with the great parenting you provide.

Hi, I didn't watch Soul, but I think I get the gist of what you mean. "Nothing is really exciting. Everything is mundane. Everything that I "stayed for" doesn't bring any fulfillment and I knew all of that even before I made that decision." This story about an I which comes into the world and then goes on somewhere else, gets attached and can find things external to itself, unexciting, mundane, unfulfilling (or the opposite) is itself what creates the dissonance. What happens if you drop the story and look simply, as if you're seeing life for the first time? I'd suggest there are no externalities to give fulfilment to an internalised self; fulfilment is when those two become one, you realise you are the world, the life, the fulfilment you've been seeking all this time. Good luck bud, and keep on talking about it. There's really no need to check out of the world, all we need is right here

@Someone here "My question : I get that there is no difference between something and nothing. But I can't wrap my mind around why there is "stuff". " "What I don't get is... If stuff is actually no stuff if you get to the bottom of it.. Then why it takes on the appearance of stuff exclusively?.. Why the universe wasn't just pure empty space? " My understanding, which I owe to Alan Watts & others, is that form and emptiness, something and nothing, are a dualistic pair, or 'mutually arising' as the Buddhists say. I.e. they co-exist; space only exists if there's objects to delineate it. Pure empty space is as nonsensical as pure stuff without space to occupy. For example, when the Big Bang created our universe, space, time, energy, matter and consciousness all co-created in unity. Form and emptiness arose simultaneously. It's not only that there's no difference between something and nothing, but also something/nothing is the on/off duality which is the appearance, to us, of the nameless (being), Reality, God. So I'd frame the question another way: why do we see this dualistic appearance? Something to do with our consciousness surely.

Or how about changing 0 to o TheoSelf, God is the self not a separate me I feel love about half the time, I believe its ever-present but not aware of it always.

I've used this language myself like prior, beyond, transcending, deeper etc etc. Which serves a purpose in the relative understanding, but of course there's no separation really. 'Prior' implies a process in time, 'beyond' implies separation in space. It only appears that way because of my state of mind.

I reckon you're right that this will only be possible for a very small number of people. You'd have to be very self-sufficient, unfazed by all the dangers of having no support system. Most of your effort would be on basic survival: shelter, food, defending against wild animals etc. If you're ill mentally or physically there's nobody to help. If that's happiness to anyone then massive respect from me!

Because this masks a deeper fear, that we don't really own these things in the first place. Our life is a moving picture of conditions, both good and bad (for survival), we want to hold onto the good and reject the bad. But everything gained, is lost, what then is the owner when all is lost? On introspection, is there an owner to begin with?

@tatsumaru ha ha let's not turn this into a debate then I've got some sympathy for Shenxiu, most of us don't have spontaneous awakening like Huineng and Eckhart Tolle, without doing years of hard work. Even the Buddha had to struggle for a time before he got it, perhaps it just depends on your character.

This reminds of the poetry competition to become the 6th patriarch of Chan Buddhism. The first poem was: The body is the bodhi tree. The mind is like a bright mirror's stand. At all times we must strive to polish it and must not let dust collect. - Shenxiu The second, and winning poem: Bodhi originally has no tree. The mirror has no stand. The Buddha-nature is always clear and pure. Where is there room for dust? - Huineng. So this is basically the age-old debate between gradual and sudden enlightenment. Do we 'get there' gradually by years of meditation to purify our minds until there's no stain of karma left; or gain a sudden insight that we were enlightened all along? It's as vital today as it was in the 7th century, I like to think they're both true.

Boom and bust is the whole point of free market capitalism, it's a question of when rather than if. Unless the govt decides to regulate the market more stringently.

"What is real? Depends on your definition of real. Is a temporary appearance real? Is believing your friend ripped you off, only to find out later that wasn't the case real? Is a mirage or magic trick real?" I've not found a good definition of 'real' vs 'imaginary' apart from another name for the duality of objective physical matter vs subjective mind stuff. A mirage or magic trick needs both: a physical event observed; plus a belief about what it means. What is more real, the sense perceptions (used as a basis for believing in the physical world), or the thoughts (beliefs) themselves? They're both mind-stuff. "In that case, who is imagining me? No one... boundless energy asking if someone's imagining." I like the idea of boundless energy. But the trouble is, it sounds too formless, foggy, vague, to be able to do something structured like asking questions

My view: there's only one absolute, which appears to take different forms (love, should etc) in our limited minds. Dualities only exist in our imagination, so the absolute doesn't 'become' anything else.

Hi I can sense your enthusiasm ("possessed by God") it's beautiful to see. I don't know a lot about Baha'i, it sounds a tolerant and loving religion. What are the practices it teaches? I'm interested to hear how it compares with other practices discussed in the forum.

I never heard of this as a named philosophy (only individuals not wanting to have children), so thanks @Blackhawk for bringing to my attention. Leo did a video on something a bit similar, 'Reproduction is an illusion' I think. To sum up, the arguments seem to be that: humans are damaging the environment too much; and human suffering can be avoided by not being born in the first place. Firstly, I've no problem with individuals choosing not to breed and think that religions which pressure us into having children are at a pretty low level of development. Humans are still a relatively young species in evolutionary terms, so it may be that we can improve ourselves to stop the environmental damage and reduce suffering. Although I'd say that most of the eco-damage has been caused in roughly the same time frame as our scientific and political improvements, only a couple of hundred years or so. Anti-natalism is a pessimistic philosophy; I'd like to at least try and be optimistic that we are seeing the beginnings of eco-awareness - why not give it a chance to succeed at least? This is all very new IMO. The issue of suffering is much older of course. But the judgement of whether suffering is too much to make life worthwhile compared to love and happiness must be an individual determination; who am I to deprive future generations of having this choice for themselves? Most parents I know (myself included) are so glad they are, despite the difficulties. Having happy children can enable me to endure many hardships, and being a good dad & husband is really my main aim in life, more so than enlightenment. That may be taken away from me in future, I don't know, but for now at least it puts my individual life into a greater context than just a separate me. "I think Buddhism is a form of antinatalism, since it recognizes that life is suffering and it advocates celibacy and it's about stopping the cycle of rebirth (Samsara)" Hang on a mo. IMO 'Life is suffering' is a shorthand form of Buddhism: the context is that life in the perspective of the Three Fires (greed, hatred and delusion) is suffering. Snuff out the 3 fires and you snuff out the suffering, which then reveals Nirvana. I recently heard an Alan Watts talk where he translates dukkha not as suffering, but as frustration, which I think is better. Thanissaro Bhikkhu calls it stress, better than suffering too because even enlightened people still have physical bodies which experience pain. Pain is a survival mechanism, unfortunately. So too is pleasure. Chasing pleasure and avoiding pain beyond their basic survival function ('greed and hatred' in Buddhism) becomes toxic and backfires on us. Also Buddhism doesn't advocate celibacy for everyone does it, just for monks & nuns, and the cycle of rebirth (samsara) only makes sense if there's a self to be reborn - once you see that there is no separate self to begin with you're cured of the delusion and life can carry on without clinging to something which is only imaginary.

What is real? And if I'm not real what am I, imaginary? In that case, who is imagining me? The concept of image suggests a duality between a real imaginer and unreal imagined. But perhaps that's an illusion. Could it be the sense of separate individual which is the image generated by the real absolute imaginer? (Not trying to be awkward squad, just doing some thoughtful inquiry)

Off topic too, but I usually let the adverts run instead of skipping them, in the hope that the channel earns more income. Am I wasting my time?

There's distinctions to make here, so we don't end up at cross purposes. From Wiktionary page on gender: "Since the 1960s, it is increasingly common—particularly in academic contexts—to distinguish between sex and gender, the former being taken as inherent biological distinctions and the latter as constructed social and cultural ones. See Wikipedia's article on the Sex and gender distinction." So the sex distinction is overlapping, but not equal to, the gender scale. There's other categories recognised now too, so it's not a simple binary split between m/f. If there is a religious (or sociological/political) aspect to this, it's more with the gender scale than the biological facts of sex.

Oneness is fairly easy to see from a material pov like this, we're all made of the same basic stuff which erupted from the big bang. Feelings of awe and wonder arose in me as a boy contemplating my place in the physical universe. Fast forward some years, it took me longer to see this in the psychological perspective, that there isn't a separate me inhabiting this material body, observing the world "out there". The clay is seeing and knowing itself. Or, seeing/knowing is "claying" itself

What was the process around you accepting no free will? I mean, if there really isn't any free will, you can't freely accept or reject it, or have an investigation without prejudging the conclusion. There's no point asking what to do because you don't have a free choice anyway. But neither can you have avoided making this exact post! That's if the options are either free will or predestination. The difficulties with both these make me sceptical, hence the regular topics about this fascinating subject. It's discussed fairly often in other areas of the forum so why not dive in there and join in. But please don't worry and get depressed about this. Spiritual practice opens up your faculties to observe and find out the truth. In the meantime, I'd say to get on with your life as if you have freedom to create the life to make you and your loved ones happy. Edit - I just noticed this is your first post, so welcome to the forum and thanks for posting

Leo is starting a new channel with edited highlights of his videos - see his latest blog & YT video. I can appreciate the dilemma; I try to follow him and this forum but it's a challenge. There's many vids posted in the threads here I've no hope of watching. I can believe the 5-10% statistic, I'm pretty promiscuous about subscribing to channels, over 80 so far and if I don't keep up with watching them, the YT algorithm drops them down the list, and stops notifying me of them. I've forgotten about the channels at the bottom of my subscriber list On a related note, there's a very low "like" count for most channels - around 1-2% is typical - are most viewers lazy and taking it for granted?

I think we're programmed to make snap judgements and stereotype people and situations. Part of our survival instinct and self-interest I guess. Many years ago I came across a man lying unconscious in the pavement and writhing around. I assumed he might be a drunk passed out after a few too many, but called an ambulance anyway. I waited till they arrived, and soon after he woke up a bit, ate a Mars bar (chocolate) and started feeling better - turns out he was a diabetic with low blood sugar levels and didn't eat his mars bar in time. Not a drunk or hobo at all, my bad! But even if he was, so what, that's no reason to judge or not to help. Life lesson learned for me that day