WelcometoReality

I see, so the appearance of "things" is what you call evil and without "things" there would only be good. I'd say that it's an illusion too. There are no separate "things" without a thought. There only seems to be separation but there is only unity. Nothing can ever be out of unity, it can only seem to be that way. Yes, surrender is the key to see unity but there was never any separation to begin with. So it's not a return to unity, it's like a veil that is lifted to see what always was. Which is unity.

It still takes a thought to distiguish something as good or evil so they are an illusion. Is a lion evil when it kills its prey or is evil only reserved for humans?

@Cireeric Thx for sharing your journey. ? Beautiful!

@Fernanda Our beliefs is what we hold to be true. We don't even think about our beliefs as beliefs until we consciously looked at them and seen them for what they are. We might still have the belief after it has been recognized but we don't cling to it anymore. Every belief that is held as true is a limiting belief but yes, well said. ?

Reality just is. Reality is being filtered through your belief system and is 'colored' by it, but the beliefs are taken to be reality. The self image is part of the belief system and so is autism. That might seem provocative so let me explain what I mean. You have a certain personality and parts of the personality there are certain traits that, when grouped together, science calls them autism. But you are you. You are just uniquely you.. And then you learn about autism, maybe get a diagnose and autism gets engrained in you. It becomes a part of your self image. So much that it enhances these traits. Then comes the belief that you must try harder to socialize. Because you have autism. So you go at it. You try really hard to start conversations but so hard that it gets repelled back at you. What if it's fine to just be you without trying so hard? Just be you. You want connection to other people and I get that. We all do. But aswell as looking outside yourself for connection maybe you also could try to find that inside of you that feels disconnected and connect to that part of you again?

The letting go technique works well with dealing with those negative feeling such as fear etc. They are the reason why everything feels like a struggle. When there's no identity to hold feelings down they come up more and more. By letting go you will start to dissolve these feelings and the body will feel lighter and less effort will have to be made to do things. If you want to know more of letting go David R. Hawkins book with the same name is very good.

@Dazgwny That's probably the response I'd have given you when I was at stage orange. Send you to the nut house and think I was doing you a favor. ?

That is higher egoic functioning. I can see the usefulness for it. ? But there's also lower ones such as fear, shame, guilt which keep people stuck in life and also brings alot of suffering. The usefulness of these are limited and by dissolving them the person can transcend into higher levels such as life purpose and love.

Depends on how far you want to take things. Certain conditioning might be beneficial and other conditioning might be hindering. For some it's a loss and for others it's freedom. How is the sense of self important to you?

Yeah, it's like that in the beginning. All those repressed emotions coming up without an identity structure holding them down. I remember my confusion about it, it was so much uncontrollable anger. Completely contradictory to my belief of what an awakening would bring.

@Edvardas These questions usually answer themselves when you're ready, if you don't cling to them.

It's not the bible but Adyashanti has written a book called "resurrecting jesus" which is his interpretation of the Jesus story in an awakening context.

You don't need to donate anything. It sounds like they are trying to milk you for there own gains.

The realization is not the end. If you want to go deeper you can start doing emotional work. I recommend just sitting with those feelings and let go of doing anything about them. Just feeling them fully is enough for them to dissolve and at the same time develop equanimity to them.

Who knows. Maybe evolution, maybe society. It's possible to see it for what it is without believing it though. ?

@CuriousityIsKey You want something other than what is and that brings suffering. Can you see that it's an impossibility for things to be other than they are? Can you surrender your want and just be present right in this moment?

And how do you know there is more than what you perceive since you only know what you perceive? I'm not saying that there is or isn't more. Just that it is unknown.

If it's based around a self which has confidence or lack of confidence then yes it is an illusion. But that aside.. Self confidence is something we radiate outward toward other people. A lack in self confidence would mean that we radiate feelings such as fear and shame. So if you want your self confidence back then work with those negative feelings. Once you move up to higher feelings you will again feel confidence again. What exactly is it that make you feel insecure? You don't trust yourself?

Indeed. But imagination might go deeper than you believe it does. ?

And thank you. I enjoyed the conversation with you. ?

Yeah in actuality the self is only in thought and is only believed to be something that is actual, separate from everything else. In actuality there's also nothing to figure out and nowhere to get to. It's all here in the present moment. ?

To me it seems like you were trying to improve yourself but at the cost of surpressing your feelings which eventually caused burnout. Could that be true? What is the hatred and bitterness about?

I was depressed from my early teens to 25 and suicidal for a couple of years. It's a hard thing to deal with for sure but there is a way to turn things around and that's facing all those negative emotions that's been surpressed for so long. It's not an easy thing to do but it's simple. It will feel worse at first but will turn around for the better after a while. I strongly recommend doing this with a trained professional since there will be so much unprocessed thoughts that come up and there will be a need to see things from another perspective to easier let go.

Yes, it might seem contradictory to use "my view" when talking about no self and I could express myself in another way which is stripped from all words that is used to reference the separate self. But why? If there's no clinging to a self or no-self then why not use the word me, I or any other self-referential word. ? Also "my view" highlights that what I'm saying is an opinion based on my own experience. Someone else might have another one. There's a trade off when communicating between closeness to truth, how well it resonates and convenience. I can't really say how the answer is formed but the answer depends at the time by the way the question is asked.

@Raptorsin7 Nice. Thanks for sharing! ?