UnbornTao

Creating the possibility and vision of a hopeful future, and holding the future that way, eliminates the root of depression.

Get into the state or ground where purpose can be created in your experience. Work on creating purpose, not superficially or intellectually but actually, experientially. Notice that purpose is created; notice that you make it up! Now, create an empowering purpose for yourself that is worthwhile to you. This will encompass your life activities and give you a sense of direction and achievement, will increase your self-confidence, etc. After having gotten in touch with that "place" where genuine creation can occur, various questions can be asked in regards to any activity and undertaking: What do I want to commit myself to? What is the purpose for this activity? Why am I doing it? Why am I engaging in it in the first place? That helps you realize which assumptions are taken for granted relative to what you're doing. From that, clarity increases.

A student posed a problem to Kant which he couldn't solve so he decided to isolate himself for eleven years in order to solve it. If anything, he was a committed guy! Besides, apparently his IQ was very high. Who has grasped what he was intending to get across in Critique of Pure Reason? Probably a couple of people.

It might or not be the case, you have to personally become conscious of whatever's true even if it contradicts your assumptions. Otherwise you're left with hearsay and what might be second-hand knowledge from authentic teachers. Hey, maybe it turns out that nothing is your imagination. Work on having several enlightenments.

I prefer to remain grounded. My stance is that they can be beneficial for relative stuff -- having insights, opening up one's mind, getting at the core of an emotional disposition, transcending patterns of behavior, etc. -- but can't and won't ever produce enlightenment for you, because only you can. Many "spiritual" people who take them are likely fooling themselves about what they experience while on them, confusing changes in their perceptive-field with "enlightenment." What they probably mean by those types of descriptions is a change in state. The gist of the matter is that, no matter how beneficial, dramatic, fascinating, unusual or grandiose an experience is, it can't ever be awakening. Awakening isn't relative.

An invention doesn't have to be true for it to work.

Motivation isn't needed. Work on changing your relationship towards it so that rather than hating it you embrace it and take it on as a fun adventure with its corresponding challenges. It's an opportunity for learning not only about the course but about yourself, starting with this resistance that you're generating. Basically, change your relationship towards it by dropping your ineffective disposition and commit to it, or keep struggling doing something that has to be done. Establishing a negative relationship towards something you want and have to do is idiotic. So yeah, basically: learn to enjoy it. Rather than resisting it, embrace your experience.

what do you mean?

He revolutionized philosophical thought at the time. I think he may even have had enlightenment experiences that allowed him to make those breakthroughs.

Do you want to stop winning, or are you rather asking about how to learn to recognize and enjoy any given process and its result/effect? First recognize there's a process preceding any accomplishment, be it a long or instant one.

Yes, wanting to know.

Yes, you might be talking about a sense of meaninglessness. Grasp that purpose and meaning are created by you. See this as a liberating fact. You're free to create the purpose of your life! Wow, what an opportunity. It could be said that reality transcends meaning, which allows freedom to enjoy life as desired, with or without meaning. Holding the future as a positive thing is also incredibly useful. Take small actions towards your goals. That in itself makes one hopeful for the future. This is an opportunity to realize how each of us can consciously make a constructive purpose for our own individual lives.

If not in the United States, where else?

Ok, my bad. I must admit your post was a useful contribution imv.

Peter has mastered martial arts and contemplation so it'd be wise to listen to him.

A profound level of honesty should be a key element in any intimate relationship. The tolerance I have for lying is very low. I wouldn't even think about starting or keeping a relationship with a liar and/or manipulative woman. That's why people like some of us are perpetual hermits lol

This cosmology is weird and problematic. I wouldn't think like that.

It was said half-jokingly since I found your explanation a bit convoluted. But hey, you're right in that I ended up oversimplifying what you meant to say in an attempt to clarify it, both for myself and others. One communication style I generally prefer is being grounded and clear, that is, without jargon nor intellectualization. That seems to be an element required for communication to take place. I guess this is another avenue for individual contemplation. @Yimpa yep, that might be true. don't know about that.

@Schizophonia real food provides a plethora a compounds, plus fibre, etc. By eating, say, too many oysters, you may as well increase your zinc levels and so the difference would be negligible compared to taking a Zinc supplement. However, oysters provide more nutritional value than that. Whole foods are greater than the sum of its parts. As far as I know, science doesn't yet fully know how such intricate synergies and relationships between food's compounds work and how they affect the human body. in any case im talking out of my ass. better do the research and ask a nutritionist. Ok, then.

So you calmed down and became more present?

I think I read about whole foods being nutritionally greater than the sum of its parts. Compounds interact in synergistic and complex ways, influencing things like absorption, etc. Taking an isolated supplement doesn't have all of those synergies between compounds, fibre, etc. Between eating a kiwi and merely supplementing vitamin C, there might be a world of difference. Ask one of the forum's nutritionist, @Michael569.

That's not true, either. It's better to leave one's nature as currently unknown, which it is, and simply admit that. What's left for us to do is being open and dwelling on the question with the intent to discover what's true now. And repeat until you do.

All of that is bullshit. It's neither. Mind's attempt to grasp the absolute will always fail. The absolute's already the case, so being afraid is silly in this regard. In other words, maybe your nature is and has always been formless; you just confused it with yourself. Short of direct consciousness, being open is the best one can do. So contemplate.

You answered too quickly

I've heard that being directly conscious is truly self-validating; unlike knowledge, it's direct, not up to interpretation, guesswork or conviction. With direct consciousness, you're in the same "place" as consciousness. You might be over-intellectualizing the matter when a solution would be having several enlightenments.