kbone

Hear, hear. In perfect unadulterated clarity, all is perfectly so. Come what may.

@deci belle Great stuff. Non-locality is a key insight. Yes, touching mind brings in the bifurcation for perception, distinguishing, labeling, memory, etc. Seeing through the constructs of self, all thoughts, beliefs, and other self-referential definitions that have formed the bars to ones psychological prison simply can fall away.

I spent a bit of time in India and Pakistan, as well as Central Asia. I always noticed a bit of a "difference" between Sufis and what I'd term "hard core Muslims". I typically found sub-continent Sufism to be more tolerant and/or secular to some extent and even participated in festivals and pilgrimages when invited. Of course, the world since 9-11 has changed some of that geographical interpretation. Your thoughts?

Be honest with yourself about "wants" versus "needs". Seek the insights to see how such perceptions came to be. Notice how one part of the mind says this, while the other says that. That's confusion of the split mind. Then, notice how the mind comes up with another focus to hide from having to deal with that confusion, which then becomes a part of the substrate... another layer. More wants then come into desirous perception. Always more... the distractions are endless. True letting go is born of insight into the structure of self, which is the illusion kinda holding the whole thingy together. Takes effort. Letting go is effortless, but the mind doth protest.

What layer of mind a) assumed one didn't have permission before and b) gave rise to the impetus to make the statement? It's likely a mom/dad/familial issue that has created blocks of sorts. I'm no psychologist, but yeah, that's my 2 cents for where to place attention after one has centered oneself in silence. Or maybe, try finding that silence, going into it, and THEN as if a friend, ask the mind to start giving you insights on this. Be specific. Peeps are often surprised by what a relaxed and more properly functioning mind will offer. And yes, have courage. Also, have a look at Triune Brain theory (here are the basics), as well as the idea of having a cerebral brain AS WELL AS a hormonal brain. You might be surprised how intelligence is so much more than most assume, thus we have more recent studies on things like emotional quotient, cultural quotient, etc that show us the cerebral brain is often the last to "know".

@Barbara As an ex-professor who doesn't know your entire context and sees that you are well past the half-way point, I would recommend finishing what you started. It may seem like a slog to get there, but nothing like the one it took for you to get here, to this present moment. Plus, the slog is only made harder by your resistance to it. At some point in your life, you worked hard and wished to get into law school, and the universe provided, hehe. It is also an opportunity for you to be aware of your mind's ways of drawing your attention from the task at hand.... just like any other meditation. I do not know you, but I have seen so many students sabotage perfect opportunities, and in such a large variety of ways. I understand there is something "else" that has caught your attention and started to generate some passion in that Latin heart of yours, but completing your law degree is not going to stop you from pursuing it AND the opportunities that open up to you afterwards. To be clear, there's a greater chance of the regret pursuing you. But yeah, absolutely, I get it. The 20s were an extremely tumultuous time for me, as well, so I know the allure of such potentials.

Yes. Tat Tvam Asi in which the dance of Maya entrances ones attention into the manifest dream of existing as some "thing/self" separate from THAT.

@Breakingthewall @James123 is pointing at Truth. To Realize Truth is to back up and Realize what is prior to mind. The mind is a bifurcator, and fundamentally is dualistically oriented. All labels (nouns, adjectives, etc) are arranged as such and help to distinguish things/movements in the flow of thought and/or communication. The story about the "spiritual search" is for THAT (Nothingness)... call it Void, Emptiness, Infinite Space, whatever you want... just labels given to something that cannot be expressed, only pointed to. All "things" that appear in that Nothingness are not inclusive of what is Whole (i.e., not inclusive of the unrealized Nothingness).

@Tim R Yes, what is not Truth, does not exist. Truth Exists. What most struggle with is the belief that outward appearances will reflect the Source as Truth itself, as if the world should make sense to the limited aspects of mind. They then often try to align their thoughts or learn "more" about Truth, assuming all kinds of things to be true/real/whatev. I assume he means that he introduced facets as kind of like sign posts, or perhaps just conceptual ideas used to communicate with. He'll have to clarify his take. Thought about Truth is not the same, so in some ways, yes, it's deluded (like diluted). Don't mistake the words, conceptual models, feelings, senses as the Truth. I'm sure you've heard the saying, "The Dao that can be spoken is not the Dao". Truth is prior to mind, so escapes words, which are dualistic from the get go. They cannot grasp Truth/Existence, only describe it away. It's where we might introduce a distinction between Awareness of Consciousness (i.e., Stillness within which Consciousness moves). Pretty wing ding subtle stuff. Either way, great to hear of your realization. Must have been a baptismal shower, hehe! Now, you can settle into the realization. I would not recommend trying to extrapolate too much from it, but instead see if you can align with the subtleties more. Not sure if that makes sense.

Be sure to use rebirth control. ? Patterns are generally rooted in unconscious conditioning. Exploring one’s conditioning is key to becoming aware of when mind prefers to go unconscious and rides out its patterns. They are often oriented for pleasure and against pain (mental, physical, psychological). To “seek” and/or “cope” leads to all sorts of shenanigans, but the fact remains that mind maintains its role as master, when it is predominantly reactionary.

That word is indeed problematic once IT is Realized. It’s the better question worth exploring.

Imo, no study of esoteric Christianity is complete without a good hard introspective look based on the more non-dual aspects found in the Nag Hammadi. Of course, the key teachings would likely never have made it to the King James Version. But who knows...

One foot on the pavement and one foot in the milky way And I’m soaring Soaring My branches scrape the sea of stars My roots dig deep into this world of ours And I’m grounded Grounded My reality is what I perceive What I attract into my orbit Worries fade into the haze The air feels different this time round Different this time round Let’s set sail Start a fire Learn to live a little higher Let’s pick the lock Grab the reigns Forget there ever were chains Cause there never were chains Days move on and times they change In a blink of an eye things rearrange We’re moving Moving We’re sucked in and we’re spat out On the other side of the rabbit hole But we find our way Find our way Do you want to be just a machine in this crazy society? Pick the lock Grab the reigns Forget there ever were chains Cause there never were chains

Suffering is directly related to and dependent upon the belief in and the identification as a separate volitional person. To become conscious of that illusion is to end suffering and be free of the prison of the mind, a bird in an empty cage. That awakening inspires further clarity, as one becomes more conscious of Being Consciousness.

@yangmilun All of life is a movement. All creatures seem to register it at some level of other. But, as humans go, each has a cerebral cortex which enable all sorts of creative uses of its abstractions. The concept of time is a way of quantifying any such movement, Point A to Point B, whether physical, mental, or otherwise. These are all just "labeled things" appearing in/as Consciousness. Quantifying requires a mental construct using agreed upon terms and generally shared notions of what the terms reference in regards to apparent movement. The key is to understand that the quantifying is a mental construct (i.e., just as the self is). The word illusion itself is just a term that refers to its opposite, reality, fact or truth. Most peeps regard truth as something that is not wrong, or not a lie; whereas, in discussions of things spiritual and whatnot, Truth (capital T) refers to a break with the consensual reality trance-like state to a purely Subjective view that exists prior to the individuated mind in which mental constructs are, welp, constructed (usually unconsciously). It might be noticed that when peeps are genuinely on a spiritual search, the narratives can get pretty whacky, intense, otherworldly, or even insane-sounding. Once this is acknowledged, it is easier to see why it is important to be clear on what the context is in a given situation before making such a statement. I digressed here to make a point. To say that, "time is an illusion" is to specifically refer to the latter context just above, the context of seeking or having Realized Truth, not necessarily the consensual reality one in which, generally speaking, peeps are referring to day-to-day interactions. If one is seeking Truth, then yes, they will need to come to terms with time being an illusion because it is a mind-made thingy, always subject to its impermanence. But, once Truth is Realized, then it would behoove the newly minted dream-character to more-or-less play along with the agreed upon mental construct when trying to get shit done, especially when interacting in cultures/businesses/contexts that HIGHLY depend on, respect and/or value punctuality, precision, and efficiency.

@Preety_India I am happy to hear that you have found a place to help transcend some of the culturo-familial limitations you've grown up with and/or experience on a daily basis. It is one of the benefits of the web and being able to find a netizen community you are more aligned with and can grow with through interaction. Living through a mind that has divergent views, in comparison with those of mainstream cultural norms, can be quite exhausting, so it helps to get a sense you are not alone and are able to express yourself openly. Having spent quite a bit of time in India and on the sub-continent, I can imagine (to some extent, anyway) how hard it might have been for a free spirited person, such as yourself, looking for a sense of expansion beyond the given paradigm. Interestingly, I think it helps to "hear" many of the ideas that perhaps your own religio-cultural background propounded, but in a way that is less dogmatic or constrictive. Re-approaching them with a different light can help to put them in context that is more suited to you, or just empower you to throw them out altogether. Anyway, I could tell you were genuinely grateful, so I thought I'd chime in. Aram se, sista ?

Attempting to stop thoughts is attempting to re-condition the mind to stop itself from carrying out its function. You can try it, but notice the conflict created and never resolved. It pits the mind against itself, which is a battle, in the end, it will lose. What may be more advantageous is to bring into greater awareness the profound subtleties of mind, which include cerebral thought and emotional feeling. You could do a little research to understand the mechanisms and functions of these basic two aspects (i.e., cerebral brain versus hormonal brain) and how they interact as the mind-body organism and psychological self. It gets interesting. The "nothingness" you speak of is more likely the mind trying to "project nothingness" as a means of attaining something, when in fact, that's just a mind game. Mind is movement within the Nothingness that one already is, the Void (as Zenners call it). Mind wants nothing to do with that; it wants to maintain control, so it is very likely happy to assume that it understands this "nothingness", when in Truth, it can't.

If it was "any other way", it would be that way, too. No? Perhaps you are asking if The Infinite includes infinite infinities. Or, maybe you're just alluding to different perceptions, but those are still within Infinity, hehe.

God, Existence, Truth, Being... whatever you wanna call it, simply IS already the case. It's the thoughts and beliefs about it, both conscious and unconscious, that typically lead one astray from HERE. IT is not provable, only Realizable, because there is no "other" to whom to prove. Being is Self-evident. If someone feels they "must" do something (anything, really) specific before they can "realize" Truth, then they haven't Realized. As such, there is an ignorance of the a-causal actuality of Being. I'm not saying that no one should "try" to find Truth; just saying what is already the case. To say it is otherwise would be to delude. Having said all that (hehe), how one verbalizes Being/Truth/God/etc can often give clues that lead to a pretty decent bit of probability of whether that person really knows what they are talking "about/from"..... IF the one listening has been and/or IS HERE. That could take a little bit of discussion, probing, and pointing which all amount to what might be called "dharma combat". Such romps via the mind, can be like using finer and finer grades of sand paper to smoothen wrinkles in hard surfaces. As one comes to abide more and more as Being, realizing more and more when IT/Consciousness touches mind, clarity arises and it can shine its light on that constantly present (relative) darkness of the mind and its games.

There's the saying that, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." In a way, all of life is a teacher, and the journey in depth and breadth takes on various explanations and realizations. Most everyone one meets is searching for something. Generally speaking, that might be summed up as ways for perpetuating worldly happiness or avoiding pain. Even so called spiritual seekers are usually looking for some subjective mixture of these, and rarely for Truth. The problems that arise to the mind are about sustainability of the worldly pursuit and, eventually, if they stumble on to an intense search for Truth, authenticity. This is a place for both.

There's a difference between "facilitative anxiety" and "debilitating anxiety". And yes, the former can lead to the latter once the heavily conditioned unconscious thoughts start to work their magic of pulling ones attention back into the ruts of a limited view. You allude to these phenomena in your post with respect to the connection between thoughts and emotions that are arising. I would say that beliefs are constructs of thoughts and they, in turn, will give rise to emotions. While many beliefs are conscious, a majority of them are unconscious. And, dare I say, many beliefs are often assumed to be true and/or "known facts". Every thought and experience had is relegated to memory from which the mind's multitudinous constructs draw on to build its cause-effect relationships.... this is often called reason. What I mean by "mind constructs" can be seen by the various identifications one has as a volitional person: "I" as a student, "I" as a teacher, "I" as a good family member, "I" as a sincere partner, etc. As such, all mind constructs are born of memory, which is to say, of the past. Believed to be actually true, the illusion of a separate volitional self is born and, therefore, will die. Generally speaking, that causes at least some degree of anxiety, hehe. Anxiety is a typical outcome when facing the "unknown". What will amaze anyone willing to truly examine everything, leaving no stone unturned, is how very very very precious little is known. This can lead to a tremendous degree and scope of anxiety, but not always. In the context of the spiritual search: Facilitative anxiety will spur you to keep looking, trying, loving, and dying to a previous set of boundaries of self (born of the mind) and into that boundless Truth. IT is non-local, unconditional, and indescribable. Free. Debilitating anxiety will be the outcome of having succumbed to the demands of the self's (the mind's) limitations. That creation is confused, based on all sorts of beliefs, and believed to be real. Suffering.

Good, this helps me innerstand you a little more and appreciate your present state. Thanks for sharing. In the OP, you mentioned the following: "I have learned some valuable lessons all this years but some times i feel like is just to much for me. I completely understand why I am imaginary, why everything is just layers and layers and layers of imagination. I “understand” the nature of nothingness ( I grasp it with my whole being ), I understand why reality is nothing but perspective. I see myself most of the time in other people ( their voice, emotions, eyes, expressions, words they choose...) . I understand what love is ( it cured me). I have advanced levels of darkness, if I could call it like that , which have turned into a great artistic hunger?. I have embodied all this stuff. But sometimes I get some sort of backclash / fear about everything, a general terror about everything, dealing with day to day life could be fucking harsh, and everything could go away in an instant..." This leads me to believe you have done quite a bit of introspection, have been involved in a major shift of perspective (perhaps even attempted using a more disruptive approach), and now you want to start using music, a true lifelong love of yours, as a vehicle. Does that sound about right? Music can be used as an outward expression of an inner journey, and journeys are, typically, always about seeking. What you may be seeking could be considered the melody that weaves through the body of your work. That melody, in turn, might work to further harmonize the various aspects of a life you are examining, and making such a life worth living (thank you, Socrates). Some of what you are seeking can be "assumed" from what you have shared, but perhaps it is better if you express that in your own words. I sense that is why you have posted, and that's great. Maybe it's what you "understand" about nature of nothingness, and/or the attempt to grasp it with "your whole being"... not sure. So, here, please clarify.

What, in your clearest and best understanding, compels you at this point? Bring this into as simple a focus as possible. I’d suggest not stirring the mind quite so much. Nothing wrong with a trip, either expansive or subdued. But you’ve never actually left HERE.

Worth noting that when you are contemplating "knowledge" (or what is known), you're using mind to think about and/or connect what it knows (concepts, ideas, seemingly meaningful projections, etc). Nothing wrong with that. But when getting to the crux of Realization/Actualization, it's not so much a knowledgeable "thing", but a transcendence of the mind's paradigm altogether. And I mean, an absolute break from it. Once it happens, there's no real "going back"... as it may be akin to a psychological allergy of sorts, hehe. Again, articulating the view from, or the pointing back to, Source are events that happen in Consciousness .... the Oneness that one already IS and is being sought (all three are just conceptual labels of the same non-thing). It's not a knowledgeable thing, per se, which is why "teachers" often used to refer to it as things like "Supreme Knowledge" and the like. I typically use "Realization" to distinguish it from "knowledge", because it seems to make sense to do so. They're not to be confused, but the mind will typically try to bring such views/pointing down to its level, and require it to make sense to it. It doesn't. It only makes sense to Intelligence.