ayokolomo

If YOU feel the calling to help end suffering there are plenty of charities that are in desperate need of people to volunteer. A quick google search and I am sure that YOU can find them. But that does not mean everyone has that calling.

I found that I held a hidden belief that charging money = greed which obviously is false. This was because I held a negative view of people with excessive money, which lead me to the false belief that some how money was bad. Havent we heard the saying "money is the root of all evil?" Well money in itself is not evil or good it is simply a measure of how good you are with money! Maybe you could examine your hidden beliefs on money.

What if it has already happend and we some how forgot?

If I may be so bold... Leo has found his purpose. The level of knowledge is directly tied to the level of intensity. He is a teacher, a disseminator of ideas, watch the passion that he brings to each video. This is only because this is his purpose now. Find your purpose and you too will have this intensity, this level of knowledge.

How many black t shirts do you own?

What makes you think you had a "way" in the first place? If that "way" lead you to where you are now, and you dont like it then maybe it wasnt such a good "way" to begin with. If you are having trouble changing who you are, maybe you can change where you are

What you are looking for is a magic trick that will somehow alleviate the pain of studying. @SmokeAndMirrors has some great tips, but ultimately you know what has to be done. Bite the bullet, sit down and study.

All i need is a friend...

Wow, I was going to say stop being a pussy and drink some coffee.

I actually prefer feng shui myself, and seeing how it is now the year of the monkey, and the 4 pillars of destiny are the wood goat, the earth tiger the metal pig, and the wooden horse. That means that the metror plan #4, which means that the qi chi star of wealth is this year on the south. Which means I should stop thinking so much and just turn my bed to the south.

Yes and no, are my standard responses. The hidden meaning of the question (if there is one) is the one I try to answer. But sometimes "is it halloween because you are wearing a whores costume" can work.

I am human, I mess up, I have regrets about making this girl cry or that gut getting pissed off. But if I am mindful of my emotions, I can feel a judgental thought coming and then I stop myself. Also remember the question may be a lie or just not really the full truth. "am I fat?" Said by a girl is really saying "am I attractive enough to go out, because I dont have enough confidence"

Even truthful statements or answers are reliant on subjective judgements. It may not be being honesr or dishonest more than is about changing your own subjective judgements. Sonetime I find that the brutaly honest approach works: "you fat fuck get that doughnut out of your mouth!" But more often than not just being mindful about my words allows me to see my own judgental side.

My point is more about the subjectivity of certain truths than the relevance that truth has on their lives

Is it the truth or is it your opinion on what the truth is?

I never had a plan b. And yes things have fucked up in major ways. But here I am, everything seems to have worked out.

@brianman3 If i sound disrepectful in anycway then I apologize, these are just my own thoughts. It appears to me that there is way to much mind in your questions. Would I be right in assuming that you have alot of questions for other spiritual or self actualized topics? No need to answer just something to ponder. The mind dissects and analyzes and cuts apart things, but this is only one way of knowing things. There have been alot of really good points made here but still I see you cut and dissect them up. We talk of a drunken monkey mind but from your responses I see a monkey on 5 redbulls. Slow down, stop trying to find the answer and it will come to you. The truth is a whisper but you are shouting so loud you cant hear it. Your mind is working so hard that you are drowning out the truth. But you need some sort of practical advice right? A basic guideline from the yoga sutras: if you meet people who are happy and joyful, cultivate friendliness and kindness, to those who are in pain or suffering cultivate compassion and support. To those who are virtuous and benevolent be mindful of happiness and goodwill. And to those who you see as wicked cultivate neutrality and acceptance. Dont go to deep and try to dissect these, it is just common sense but be conscious and purposeful in cultivating these attutudes. This will allow the answers you are seeking to bubble through yourself.

Although this is about returning to meditation this is good advice for beginners as well. Jack Kornfield is a really great teacher, search for some of his guided meditations on youtube.

@brianman3 the trick is to recognize that your identity is your choice. How consciously you hold your identity is up to you

Could be. But it is also equally possible that the outer layer is the important layer and is the only one needed for survival. Maybe the inner one is the real hinderance to our evolution. And that relational status is the only game worth playing.

@FindingPeace thank you for that ibcredibly detailed response. You're right there are many times when the relatiobship has to end because the other persons behaivor is too toxic. When my son was born two very close friends were essentially elininated from my life. What is that breaking point is different for everyone. Also I have to apologise as I was projecting alot of my own issues on to your original post. One of my recent realizations is that I have become too judgemental in my thoughts:"well I meditate 30 minutes a day so obviously I am further along in the quest for truth." Most people arent interested growing consciously they would prefer to allow it to happen unconsciously. So the first part of my growth was to try to nudge them by using their language. So for my mother I often say "Jesus loves you" This helped some, but I started to question whether I was right in what I was helping them to become. Higher and lower are such subjective terms, I began questioning their definitions. it may be that I am feeling better about myself, but by what measure am I judging that this behavior is "better" than another? We can look at "obvious" destructive behaviors like excessive drinking. Yet Alan Watts, who many on this board would consider to be enlightend, was a raging alcoholic. So this person that we are trying to become through our work, is that really better? If it isnt objectively better then hiw can I pass judgement on others? Perhaps this work that I am doing is just as illusory as their.behavior?

Or maybe its vice versa and you dont need the inner layer and you only need the outer one.

Funk

The value my dog has, is not from anything he does I give him value because he is and because I can. But mostly because I want to. I do love and value my dog, just not as much as my son. Apologies if I have said anything offending

Why does life have intrinsic value? Isnt that simply the illusion playing tricks on you? You choose to cut your finger because you value your finger more than the branch. Not because of some intrinsic value. The tree will probably choose the branch over your finger, because it identifies with its appendage. In 100 years from now you and everyone you know will be dead(or uploaded to skynet) and the world will be just fine. Where is this external value that you write about? My dog has no intrinsic value only the value that I have for him, or that I create for him. The value is only a thought in my head. A set of guidelines in how to best play the game. It is the ego playing in the field of illusion, so lets play.