Wilhelm44

Could "it" just be Life itself.

"When you get out of the driver's seat, you find that life can drive itself, that actually life has always been driving itself. When you get out of the driver's seat, it can drive itself so much easier—it can flow in ways you never imagined. Life becomes almost magical. The illusion of the “me” is no longer in the way. Life begins to flow, and you never know where it will take you." Adyashanti So I'm guessing Adyashanti is also just in a state ? What people are calling God realization seems to be more of a peak mystical state, it doesn't last, not that I'm knocking it. What Jim, Mellowmarsh and Adyashanti are talking about is not a temporary state.

If there are a whole bunch of processes happening in the background over which you have no conscious control, and neither can you say that you are consciously deciding for the mind, can you see that perhaps the sense of the 'controller' might be an illusion, made up of a confluence of the senses, thoughts, emotions etc

Wow

Aren't those two, acceptance and resistance, more like energetic contraction or expansion/relaxation in the body, rather than thoughts per say

You have a wonderful way of erasing questions from the mind, thanks

@Mellowmarsh I saw your 'name' in the Solipsism thread - Mogofeternalstench I think I'm going to stick with Mellowmarsh, easier to pronounce

Yeah, maybe you right, maybe it's just like deep sleep, although I sense it's a deeper kind of reset.

But can you really say you consciously decided to have the thought ?

Yeah I wonder if there's something strange going on with the brain during cessations

Thank you James

Did you decide to have this thought ? Or did it just happen without any gap

yeah, I guess I was thinking of something unrelated, those states they call cessations, I wonder how that works

Wow, thanks

Similarly, if you look closely, are thoughts really yours, or are they actually just happening.

I guess I was going into science fiction mode and thinking, would it ever be possible for the eternal unfolding to stop ?

Similarly, if you stop identifying with thoughts as yours, it doesn't mean that thoughts stop happening all together.

@Breakingthewall I felt to share with you something Mellowmarsh said earlier in the Solipsism thread. It might help to clear up the misunderstanding with regards to ego. "I function as an ego of course I do, but the difference is I know it’s not my ego, I know no one owns or controls my ego, my ego is simply everything functioning as an ego. That’s all."

Thank you for clearing this up.

I don't think Mellowmarsh is going to respond here. She's pointed out to me the futility of debating this stuff. I just want to clear up some misunderstanding here. Jim is not in some peak mystical God realized state, I agree you wouldn't be able to function like that. His sense of a separate self has just 'fallen away' permanently. (Probably not using the correct nondual terminology here.) Thoughts, emotions, actions still happen, there's just zero personal ownership of it all. Spirit or Intelligence doesn't require personal ownership to still do it's thing. Life goes on. But yeah, have a chat with Mellowmarsh, I think you know which part of the forest she likes to hangout. Don't approach it like a debate though, pure curiosity goes a long way. (I don't know if you play sports, but when you play tennis for example, and you go into the "zone", there is no sense of identity or personal ownership, there is just pure flow. Now according to your theory this should be impossible.)

Like infinite subjectivity

Thank you, yeah, there seems to be a 50 50 split in the likes and dislikes.

I think Michael Levin might also be somewhat mystically inclined.

"Yes, that specific order matches the historical ranking of the FIFA World Rankings for men's national teams. The list precisely follows the order of nations—Spain, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, and the UK (England)—when these top footballing powerhouses held the number one position sequentially in the past. [1, 2, 3] Would you like me to break down when each of these countries reached the #1 spot or discuss their major tournament histories?" Google says Leo Gura is from America which means that was a super lucky guess

Cool, thanks, will do Who are your favorite modern day mystical scientists ? (He's not so modern anymore, but I still quite like Rupert Shelldrake)