snowyowl

"I" as in Raphael, or as in the whole universe? Have you left behind your small separate identity now? If it's the universe creating all these things, creating, recreating, reforming itself, then yes of course, all this is the universe unfolding in infinity.

Ideas of demons and devils are the creation of mainstream religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism etc. Maybe some fringe New Age people are talking about it too, the world is full of people with all sorts of beliefs. I suggest you breathe, relax, let it all go and focus on your own spiritual work. You don't need to be afraid of thoughts, which is all this is, really. Focus on the content of direct awareness, there's no demon here apart from the selfishness of the delusional ego.

@Blackhawk "I woke up in the world not knowing why or how. " This is the ego's story, that I come into the world - from where? Perhaps it's the other way round, I arising is the sleeping.

In a way, we should be glad that 'generations' change so much faster now, compared with historically, it gives hope for faster improvements. If we lived in mediaeval times, or the ancient world, change was slower and you were mostly limited to following in your parents' footsteps. So look on the bright side.

A relatively simple solution would be to change the design of your bins, to make them less likely to blow over, and with lids. But you're right, there's a long-term issue of people's feelings towards their own home area. Leo mentions in his holism video pt2 about people littering because they don't feel connected with nature. We have a littering problem in my country too, and I get pleasantly surprised when I go on holiday to Mediterranean Europe how clean and litter free it is compared with the post-industrial landscape I inhabit.

@Zeitgeist I'd agree that as many people get middle-aged they become more inflexible in their thinking. Boomers made up the young generation during the 1960s, and were misunderstood in their day in the same way @Boethius is now. I'm a boomer myself (just), and I was brought up with a lot of attitudes which are now completely obsolete like racism, homophobia, support for the empire, looking down on single parents and divorcees etc, even though they made no sense to me. As a youth it was assumed I was inexperienced and the older generation knows best. But I guess they had the same thing from their parents who were brought up on Victorian values.

Nice, thanks Although it sounds like you're talking from the absolute pov; my ego is looking from the relative, separate pov so can't really process your advice in a practical way. Therefore we look for a nice story like seeking the truth, following the spiritual path, as a way into this.

So, do nothing, instead of seek nothing? Or perhaps surrender to nothing, become nothing, rather than look for it outside myself.

how do I stop seeking without seeking to stop

@WonderSeeker Sounds like these glimpses have been occurring only this week, so of course you're all shook up and preoccupied with thinking about it. Congratulations! Let it all sink in, enjoy it while the initial energy lasts. I reckon it'll subside naturally and then you can look at your life purpose again. Relax, don't worry, you're young and have it all going for you. Good luck and keep us posted

@Blackhawk yeah, I'm afraid that small and weaker countries like mine have to pick sides from among the superpowers to avoid being completely downtrodden (and I'm from the UK but we're too small to stand on our own militarily). The Vietnam war was basically a power struggle between the US (for capitalism) and China/Russia (for communism), and even though the US was no1, there would have still been a war whether the US got involved or not.

In one perspective, Taiwan already think they are China, and the CCP are the usurpers illegally occupying their territory on the mainland. From Wikipedia page for Taiwan: "Taiwan (traditional Chinese: officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia ..." The Republicans took over from the Emperors in 1912 in a revolution, then the Communists took over in a civil war. China's never been democratic and as far as I know, Taiwan has slowly transitioned to democracy. But they're held back from declaring independence by the threat of Chinese invasion.

I'm interested to see what difference the Chinese involvement in Africa makes to African's prosperity and development. I've read about China's construction projects like roads, railways etc.

I don't really understand why the issues surrounding the covid vaccine are different from all the other vaccines out there. Yes I've had my first dose, I also have the flu vaccine every year, tetanus when needed, recommended vaccines when I travel abroad, plus I don't regret my childhood vaccines like MMR, polio, TB etc. There's small calculated risks with any medical treatment, but compared to the risk of catching the diseases it's the obvious choice.

@Husseinisdoingfine I think I see where you're coming from, but just replacing one militaristic nation on the no 1 spot with another, isn't going to make the world a better place. Remember that during the cold war the Soviets and the US kept each other in check, at least in certain areas like Europe and the Middle East. Which was the best place to live then? Not that I have I good alternative either, until we all decide to club together and beef up the United Nations with a military and economic force which can stand up to the superpowers. But that's not in the superpowers' interests to let that happen.

I've got a loosely held theory that the ego is basically the prefrontal cortex of the brain, but viewed subjectively. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex "Many authors have indicated an integral link between a person's will to live, personality, and the functions of the prefrontal cortex.[2] This brain region has been implicated in executive functions, such as planning, decision making, short-term memory, personality expression, moderating social behavior and controlling certain aspects of speech and language.[3][4] The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals.[5]" This kinda fits with the feeling that I exist in my head, between and behind my eyes. That might sound materialistic to those folks who think the brain doesn't exist, but I'm not putting physical existence above subjective consciousness. It suggests my ego is part of the mind-body complex, not a "little me" inside the "big me".

Nice it reminds me of the Ajahn Chah quote: “Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.”

The histories of Hong Kong and Taiwan are rather different. Hong Kong was part of China since ancient times, but was taken over by the British Empire, resulting in Britain leasing it from China in 1898 for 100 years. So when the lease expired in 1997 China was simply recovering their own territory legally (if you accept the CCP as the legal rulers of China since they took over the mainland during that 100 years). They gave some promises of democracy at the time, which they're obviously in the process of gradually rescinding and integrating HK into the rest of communist China. Taiwan was conquered by China rather more recently in the 17th century, by Imperial China (following a period of Dutch imperialism), and is now the remaining outpost of pre-communist Republic of China after it lost the mainland in the civil war, at the end of WW2. So effectively, the Chinese communists are wanting to reopen the civil war and expand their territory. Then there's Tibet, which has another history, but is still a victim of the CCP's empire building. My conclusion: China is strategically planning for the long-term, as it is a single party without a change in administration to disrupt its plans. It has a long memory.

I once asked this question to a rational atheist, she just looked at me and couldn't answer, perhaps in case it undermined her sense of free will to know what's true. IMO, I'm still inclined to believe in the unconscious, or subconscious as an 'invisible' part of mind which creates thoughts, feelings etc, before the narrow light beam of conscious awareness is shined and we 'know' them. But of course I can't demonstrate this belief! It's like my belief in the mysterious ground of being that's prior to me creating reality.

My perspective: we don't create reality out of nothing (ex nihilo), but we reify it, ie we create things (in thought) out of the undifferentiated ground of being. This ground of being isn't nothing imo, but all I can say is, prior to us observing it, it's a mystery. The metaphorical tree falling over with nobody to see or hear it. Who decides what are the boundaries between the thing and it's environment? Thought does. In that sense, a 'tree' is my creation, but I still hold onto a primordial mystery prior to me creating the tree. Does that make sense? Ajahn Chah quote: “Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.”

Starting my first post with a journal, then will start dipping into forum discussions. I want to use this, among other things, to journal about my meditation practice, other spiritual practice, and general discussion/monologue of ideas.

How about black holes? Relativity theory tells us that gravity stretches and warps space-time. So how much does it get stretched going from the outside to the inside of a black hole? Including at the singularity. Imagine having a very long tape measure with a clock on the end. You hold onto one end and throw the other end with the clock into the singularity at the centre of the black hole. How far is the measurement at the singularity end? And what date is it? From my limited knowledge, the usual answer is that the equations break down when you divide by zero at the singularity to get infinite density (and scientists hate infinity in the physical universe - maybe zero really is infinity ). But perhaps someone else in the forum knows the science better than me.

'Who is looking?' can be can be expressed another way: 'how am I looking?'. Because the process of looking creates the sense of self, when looking is done dualistically. Ie a subject looking outwards towards an object, is separation, selfhood. . This is our deeply ingrained habit, and meditation (or other techniques) are like exercises in changing how we observe. It is possible to simply observe without observer or observed (awakening), but it takes most of us a lot of practice, especially when the meditation instructions can't tell you directly how to.

It's new to me, but I looked it up and it's the Koran chapter 82. Powerful, reminds me of the apocalypse or Christian book of Revelation. @Najim what does it mean to you? Why share this particular quote with us?

You're right this is a tricky topic, because there are lots of different systems of knowledge (epistomologies), ie truth claims, like empirical science, religion, common sense, practical experience (such as learning carpentry), theoretical studies like maths, philosophy, none of which gives an infallible guide to truth. We are humans after all, just another animal on one out of trillions of planets. I'm interested why this is causing such a problem for you? Not to deny your valid experience, but isn't it equally valid to be amazed that a bit of stardust can come together and create all this variety? Yes but absurdity is a human experience as far as I know, other animals don't feel it, so it's probably a product of our makeup. I guess that most of us humans ignore it and focus on pragmatism, what works to make us happy, earn a living, cure our diseases etc. Pragmatism is a type of truth too. Sorry to hear this, I've seen it in some of your other posts too. I really wish the best for you. Even if we are happy and successful in this life, we've got to lose it all in the end, from the pov of the individual self it is tragic. Maybe that's why we yearn for connections, relationships, and belonging to something greater than ourselves, transcendence.