UnbornTao

The purpose of this journal is to share questions, humor, and half-baked considerations on personal empowerment and consciousness. A few goals in doing so are to deepen my understanding and improve my communication skills, have fun, and help others see things in a new light.

That must be painful, sorry for your loss. It's a good reminder to be mindful of our time, both in relation to ourselves and others.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." — Theodore Roosevelt.

Nice. I'm going to copy that into my journal.

You can stop the fantasy and story of "self-deception" and begin to be honest about your experience by acknowledging what is present and what it truly is. It’s not an ideal or a philosophy. Consider the simple reality of telling the truth about basic things, and proceed from there. Distinguishing between what is experienced and what is conceptual is a good starting point. It provides a direction for progress.

Sounds like a bunch of vacuous assertions, very assertively stated. Then again, not much of substance can be said in two minutes. Remember that you liking it doesn't mean it is getting across something worth communicating. Consider a real teacher.

In either case, it is irrelevant what is believed when it comes to the truth. What is God? Is there a God, or a lack of God? Chances are everything that comes up in regards to that is just a rumor. And there's nothing wrong with just admitting one has no idea (this raw fact may be disguised with isms and other mental gymnastics). Otherwise, you'd be expressing your own ignorance by pretending to know, which wouldn't contribute -- and might undermine -- any open inquiry into the matter.

How is your fixation on the result making you blind to the process that precedes it -- such that the result turns out that way?

I probably stumbled upon the Tao Te Ching or a Buddhist book while browsing the Amazon bookstore out of curiosity. That was likely my first "formal" exposure to the subject, although as a child, I occasionally had moments of deep wonder about my own nature.

How come the act of communicating, specially that of an insight or a profound experience, albeit simple, is rare to come by? How come listening doesn't take place? What needs to occur for this kind of deep "listening" to take place?

It's not that the truth invalidates you; it's that it only serves itself, and the offense is of our own making, based on how we relate to it. This presupposes that we are taking ourselves seriously and giving what's true a backseat.

That should have been the name of the second channel.

Is systematizing "contemplation work" actually necessary? It should be allowed to occur organically, otherwise it is not contemplation. This point isn't about any particular teaching. Any attempt to intellectually piece things together will be inaccurate, and it can't be a consciousness of the truth. Not only is it undesirable, but attempting it is counterproductive, since we would now be comparing sets of presumptions with each other, as if we were in touch with what's being conveyed by presumably authentic sources. And generally we don't seem to notice that we're doing it, conflating that with an open study. So—Zen stick.

Write from scratch, with nothing to stand on except your own experience. Face the blank sheet. No external input of any kind, no overly extraneous concepts. Confront the matter at hand; investigate it, then communicate your experience of it as it is -- without distortion, preference, withdrawal, or bias. You can approach this exercise in many ways, but one I favor involves contemplating what true creativity means: creating something new for yourself and in your own case, like a thought. Also, I recommend picking a concrete topic, subject or theme beforehand so that your mind can actually focus on something. It could be anything, but here I mostly mean a deeper look into how an experience of X or Y is held, like the way you experience an emotion.

MONEY!

@Someone here Real questioning is experiential and not vague. It seems to me that you often just want to debate and pass the time. Nothing wrong with that, but if you want to get more serious, I'd suggest contemplating 'Who am I' in addition to an aspect of experience, such as perception or an emotion. Hope that helps.

Make that $6200.

It is fine but not the reason why I post for the most part. Why are you asking?

@Someone here It was an actual question, hopefully in order to move us toward increased consciousness. But entertainment is fine.

I wouldn't frame it as a negative per se. Leisure and socialization have their place -- to a certain extent they're necessary. Life might consist mostly of mundane moment after mundane moment. Here's a great quote that relates to this sentiment: By J. Krishnamurti.

Probably, if you pay attention, you could respond the questionnaire in way that aligns with the result you want.