Consept

-worrying about traps

Yep High Wycombe originally from south London

No one has said that they're enlightened, I think the point of the forum is just to share experiences and learn where you can. Obviously take what everyone says with a pinch of salt not just on here but on YouTube or wherever, it's always gotta to come from you ultimately. Genreally I don't come on this forum that much just because it can take away from your own journey and like you say you can get caught up in ego battles and opunions etc but at the same time it is what it is people are learning, so I would say try not to get to frustrated with it, it's just a tool or outlet. Its so not about trying to have the better insight by calling out other's egos, that's another ego game. Anyway good luck on your journey

Haha its pretty much always gonna be the case with these questions, we're all trying to explain something that exists solely as an experiential phoneme nom. Basically all thoughts are not you and bullshit, but i always get caught up in them even though I know that, thats why practicing awareness is the most important thing

Just throwing this idea in there, but what would be the difference if it was a placebo effect or not? If you had cancer and took a sugar pill that cured your cancer because you believed it would are you going to be annoyed because you only took a sugar pill instead something else that for whatever reason you believed in more? Truth is meditation lets you take a step back from your thoughts and step into your own being, so once you know yourself through that being you'll see first hand whats true. Also theres a lot of studies saying that meditation does help in other ways so its not a waste of time either way

@cetus56 Yeah best way to be honest, it literally can't be explained with words lol, and even saying that will confuse people even more. I think the lower\higher self is a decent metaphor and easy to imagine

@Ayla Lower/higher self is a concept, just like anything that can be described. But its designed like anything to attempt to understand something that on a mind level is not understandable. As long as you realise its not reality and just a metaphor, do you think it has value in that form?

I think all humans in general have a thing in them where they want to teach others. With regard to self development for the person you're trying to introduce it to its not really distinguished from say a religious person or a political person or just someone who lives hedonistically. Everyone has an idea of life that they think works for them and because of that they want to pass it on, because they either want to help other people experience this 'truth' that they've found or they want to strengthen their own belief by having someone else validate it, these are the 2 things that draw everyone to want to spread knowledge. If you think about it a religious person honestly believes that religion will help people as much as you believe self development will help people. The fact is people have to be at a certain stage to really want to take on a new method of thinking, basically they have to just really want to grow and get the most out of life, or their life situation has become so bad that whatever direction they take can't be worse than whats happening now. This is why a lot of people get caught up in cults. If someone wants help or knowledge they will seek it. From personal experience I felt the same way when i first started getting into consciousness and self development, I told everyone i cared about and thought they may be interested, about it, i bought the power of now for like 5 people, (as far as I know only one read it lol). The truth is regardless of how you package it and how passionate you get about it, very few will take it on and really practice, they may get it intellectually but to take it another step is really something they have to come to themselves. Really the best way to get your message across is to be the example yourself, if you're truthful you are trying to get people into it (as i was) without really being that far along the line yourself, as if it will progress you further if someone buys into you. So moral of the story just work on yourself and those that need and want help will find you. If i want to make money I'll seek out those that have made money already not those that are not that much better off than me but have this great system to make money.

@Kevin Dunlop I get where you're coming from, but just to put of debate in there, what is the purpose of any 'identity'? Once you realise that identity itself is an illusion why would you subscribe to having one. The way i see identity is for other people to have an understanding for the purposes, of what you are, so they can 'identify' you, which is to say distinguish you from others. But what is the purpose of you having an identity for yourself? We feel we need one because we've always had one thrust upon us and to greater or lesser extents been indoctrinated to an idea of ourselves. But we can never truly know what we are, so even if you had a really good learned identity it would still be illusion, and good is relative anyway, so it would be a learned identity that most fits with whatever you think you're supposed to be. Identities will almost always be full of contradictions as they go against are being and are not flexible, so really someone who is comfortable in their false identity can be seen as insane in a wider sense but in a society sense completely sane. If you are 'dysfunctional' it opens your eyes to illusion so in most cases is necessary for growth. To me there is one state of being we should all be aiming for and that is simply being, in which case your natural self emerges, identity is like a mask we wear over our being

Theres the you which is awareness, then theres everything you think you are. You are not whatever you think you are its just you believe you are, which gives rise to what you might call the ego. So your ego is not really good or bad its just whatever attributes you ascribe to it but none of it is you. Logically it can't be you as you're aware of it, therefore you are the awareness

I think the point with Walter is that he has no self-governance so he over compensates in terms of acquiring material gain at whatever the cost maybe. Basically he's operating from a place of lack rather than abundance. Whats interesting about the show is that it plays with this so (if you haven't watched it prob best not to read this) at the begining it seems like he's actually thrown off all the shackles that he felt trapped by and achieved a certain peace because he's about to die, so the viewer stays with him on this because it feels like he's become his true self and has a purpose that he's fulfilling i.e. making sure his family is fine when he goes. But then we realise he's just always regretted his life and always wanted to be the best at something, important etc, which is coming at it from lack, in which case enough is never enough which leads him to his inevitable destruction. But very clever how this side of him is hidden. So in terms of self governance it definitely starts from within, so if you can be ok with who you are regardless of your situation, that sets a strong foundation for self governance. Practically its just about belief and action, in terms of making money for yourself

Practice consciousness throughout a normal day, when you're talking to people, when you're shopping, when you're eating etc etc. Meditations good but practice staying conscious when things are going on

Wanted to share a recent experience i had, it happened about a week ago or so but i thought people might find it interesting. I hesitate to call it an enlightenment experience because I'm not sure it was but don't really know what else to call it. But anyway, I wasn't doing anything special i think just chilling at home, i had recently upped my meditation to twice daily, once in the morning and once before i went to bed, so my thoughts generally seemed a bit clearer than normal. All of sudden it struck me that I wasn't actually any thought that goes through my head, it wasn't that the idea struck me but i actually felt as if i was looking at my thoughts from a distance and was completely separate from them. It was amazing in itself but it wasn't like i felt i could do anything now it was just like 'what the hell was i doing all my life, I've literally been living a lie!'. Everything just seemed to make sense and every thought, even thoughts like I want peace of mind or i want to be enlightened just seemed like the stupidest waste of time, not necessarily having them but believing you are that voice in your head that is talking. Then great compassion came over me, I started to feel sorry for everyone that has to live life through their thoughts as if they are real. I felt sorry for myself having spent so many years wrapped up in thoughts. It became so clear that thinking, or rather believing your thoughts are you is the biggest waste of life there is. I realised I was just the awareness that was it, no judgement no nothing, I'm simply awareness, everything else is not real, everything else is a concept created by my mind. I was aware of my thoughts but very aware that those thoughts were nothing to do with me really. It only lasted a day or 2 and then my mind came back into play and i switched back to the thoughts, however with an important insight that deep down i know they aren't real. I guess its just the habit of being identified with your mind, also it would be counter productive to fight being identified with my thoughts i just have to let them play out with this new found realisation. Anyway since then i have felt a lot more i guess 'being' which feels like me being myself without trying to be anything, which is still cool but nothing like the initial feeling of literally being awareness. also i would've been able to describe it a bit better if i did this whilst i had that feeling or straight after but it is what it is. One thing i would say is having any idea of what you think enlightenment is or getting trapped in logic and trying to understand everything with your mind will not actually help you on your way to enlightenment. There is no way to think your way into it, it is purely a feeling that will come about once you let go of 'yourself' whether by accident or on purpose. It cannot be reached with your mind because everything in your mind is a concept and not an actual experience. It can only be arrived at experientially and to be honest its right under your nose, you just have to know deep down that your thoughts are not you, you are complete awareness and nothing more. Mine or anyone elses words can only encourage you, they can't bring you to it, you have to do that within your own experience. I only had a glimpse of it but, just that alone made me see that there literally is no point in living your life through your thoughts, its not real! And finally enlightenment literally is not what you think it is

Hey man, all the advice given so far is great, definitely get beyond your thinking mind that really is key. But to touch on something specifically, you mentioned your biggest issue is the opposite sex as in developing relationships. In this case its really important to see where this is coming from, you basically have at some point put the idea in your head that if you could just get a girlfriend then you will be ok, this type of thinking is almost the opposite of working on yourself. Its because you're ok already that a girl will be attracted to you, its just that you need to realise that yourself. So working on yourself means working on yourself as in working toward loving and fully accepting yourself regardless of how much money, girls, spirituality etc etc that you have. Really this whole thing is about realising you don't need anything really and then once you don't need it and don't wrap your salvation around it you are then free to attract things into your life, still aware that you don't need them to change you

Interesting that someone brought this up, my Facebook page has been swamped with opinions either way, so its interesting i think to hear what people who are essentially on a journey to lose their identities (i include 'myself' in this) feel about an issue like this. Being black but also being a human it does dissappoint me that people can't see why its necessary to have a movement such as 'black lives matter'. Black people have obviously been marginalised in various aspects of society, this is why you get things like BET or 'black' films or magazines or whatever because in the mainstream its almost as if black people aren't included. With regard to the killings of black men, it would seem to me that if you have a society that sees 1 race(I believe theres only 1 race btw) as threatening or less than the majority race, which can be shown in bias tests etc. Then if thats mixed with a country that allows guns the causal effect will be what we see happening now. The reason it seems to have exploded now is because of camera phones and social media, in reality it has always happened. For it to stop or for people to finally see each other as equal then this has to happen until the mainstream society recognise this major discrepancy in terms of how people are treated. Whats sad is the excuses and justifications that people come up with, which is essentially saying everything is fine how it is. So the question will be how bad does it have to get before people hold their hands up and say its wrong, whats worrying is that there still hasn't been an official apology for slavery (there has been for pretty much every other atrocity). I would like to hear peoples honest opinions on this though

I've had a condition called ulcerative colitis for a few years which basically means I have to really watch what I eat and because of that I'm constantly researching foods that are good for you and I always wonder why people aren't told about them. So I wanted to start a thread if anyone's come across food or anything that has some crazy benefits for your body. I'll start with a couple - Coconut oil - 10 benefits Hem seed protein - great source of natural protein amongst other benefits http://www.alive.com/food/hemp-protein/ Avacado - 12 benefits Obviously there's loads, but if you've got any ones that people don't really talk about post them up!

To me desperation comes from lack or a scarcity mindset ie I don't have so I need to get as quickly as possible. Whereas inspiration is more from abundance because you're doing something not because you feel you have to but because you're inspired to do so, as you say it comes from being

I've done quite well making money on ebay and I'm now going into amazon fba. Might be worth looking into. But I think generally there are a lot of opportunities online to make some money, it's just not an overnight thing you really have to be patient and learn the techniques, but I can definitely say if you stick with something that someone else has made money with you most likely can as well

I guess with pick up or in general life, it's quite easy to good at seeming authentic. Certain looks you can give, things you say, coming across honest etc, but this can definitely be a learned skill. One of the tests of whether you're being authentic especially when talking to people would be are you looking to get something out of the interaction. It could be that you want sex, reassurance, an ego boost, whatever it is if you're thinking about an outcome then you're adjusting your behavior for the best chance of that outcome. To be authentic there would have to be nothing in it for you and like you say you're just moving through a state of being. Very hard to master, for me personally it's difficult because I'm always aware of when I'm not coming from a place of being but I feel in the moment I can't do anything about it. Prob like that for a lot of people

Hi @electroBeam , I get what you're saying it can be difficult to apply the spiritual stuff of basically 'just be authentic' when you're going through something like social anxiety. Although meditation and things will help. Anyway it's something I've been through especially when I was your age so I made a video about it a few months ago that I hope might help you- YT anxiety vid

@GigaWiser78 Lol you kinda reinforced @DJ s point. Sorry to laugh but you put yourself down for not understanding that you're putting yourself down. If you can't see it, your issue seems to be that you don't think you're any good and your associating your identity with what you're not good at. So you believe that inherently you're not smart enough to make progress or you're not good at creative writing. None of these are actually your problem, your problem is you keep making problems that don't really exist. For example creative writing is a skill, the more you do it the better you'll get (if you practice anything for 20 hours you'll get to a decent standard). But you've already said to yourself you're not good at it, as if naturally you're not, therefore you've failed before the attempt. So advice wise, you need to build up your confidence and trust in yourself that you have 2 arms and 2 legs like everyone else and can do these things, don't put yourself at a disadvantage from the go. It's your frame that needs to be changed, the content is irrelevant. Also you should just watch your thoughts and try not to caught up in them, that way you can see the little tricks it does

Really your mind will find reasons to not do anything new, especially something that seems counter intuitive. What I've noticed I'd most things that don't help you in the long run watching TV, eating crap, playing computer games, whatever, your mind has no problem with but when it comes to reading, meditating, other positive stuff your mind will give you a ton of reasons not to do it. You have to break through and make these new things a habit

The real question is why do you feel the need to tell people? I'm not saying you're wrong for this, I'm just saying explore within yourself why you have that urge. A lot of the time it's because you want to validate those beliefs to yourself, it always feels better when you can convince someone else of what you believe, if you talk to any religious person this is always the case. But from my personal experience of having this urge to tell everyone I know when I first learned about this stuff, people will only learn about when they're ready. This could mean they accumulate lots of stuff but are still not happy so look for meaning elsewhere, it could be they're going through hard times and start to question things, it could be they're trying to improve themselves and stumble upon it. Whatever is they have to get to it themselves and their journey is a necessary component of this. After I read power of now, I was blown away and I bought 5 copies and gave them out to 5 friends, only one of them read it and understood to some degree what it was about. So majority of people will not get it. What I think is the best way to get people involved is not talk about it but you be the example, when they see how you live with consciousness they'll end up asking you (or being jelous), and at that point you can share

Just to put this question out there to everyone, do you think once you start down the road of what Lorcan has set out ie say you start a decent paying job, how hard is it to get off the track? Reason I ask is a real issue is resources, so you may need to work a certain amount of time to get you money for your own business or monet to travel or whatever you're trying to do. But I can see that a lot of people may start with that intention but then get caught up with and reliant on that guarenteed income

Hey, a lot of people, myself included, go through this thing of trying to get your self worth from outside of yourself, specifically from other people. It's almost like it's been so ingrained in us that we don't realise we do it and in fact are convinced that if they just get that thing or life that everyone would want then we'll finally have 'made it' and be worth something. I felt like this for the longest and actually tried to change how I naturally was to gain acceptance. The problem is you become a slave to whatever is the common mode of thought and none of the decisions you make are actually yours. So what should you 'do'? Begin working on your integrity and self-esteem, put yourself as the most important person that to please not everyone else, if everyone says your dumb for reading books, back yourself and don't agree with them (not saying fight with everyone, just defend your corner). Also become more conscious in general, be aware when you're going against yourself, even if you don't take action, watch it. Meditation, as well as taking time just for you really helps seperate the fake you from the real you. The other thing you got to think is if people only like you because of your people pleasing personality do they really like you at all? Give yourself a chance to be you