UnbornTao

What is a perspective? Is it a way of holding reality? How can you shift perspectives?

What is up with boredom? Why do we despise it? What is boredom based on or motivated by? Loneliness! It is because we feel lonely that we seek to be together, entertained, with the latest movie and novel. This entire industry is based on our collective inability, aversion and unwillingness to be alone. Increase your tolerance for boredom. Bare, raw experience, being mindful, aware and sensitive.

You jump into a pool, you get wet. Instant Karma!

In the context of spirituality: "All roads lead to the same destination" is false.

Giving context, complexity and nuance as needed in order to present a bigger picture. The irony in such a short post.

Groundedness doesn't necessarily imply inflexibility and stubbornness.

What forms of contemplation are there?

It's possible that your tastes, even your interests, are changing, or it might be an emotional struggle that will eventually pass. Do you still like it? Make sure that you choose something you like before committing to it. Remember that commitment demands going through plateaus and emotional "crises." Moreover, even if you like it, that doesn't mean that it's going to be constantly easy and enjoyable; pursuing your passion might even be the hardest option, so take these things into account. When you commit to mastery, no matter what you do, you're going to face these kinds of challenges. It ultimately comes down to you. Introspection is what I recommend.

What is a distinction? What are difference and sameness, metaphysically speaking? How are they different from each other? Is a distinction existential, or an elaborate conceptual construction? Without brains: Are distinctions "out there" naturally? Do they arise after mind perceives and makes sense of the world? Red car Beautiful tree Ferocious animal What are these sentences referring to? What is really there? In your experience: What happens when you stop adding these concepts onto the raw perception? So this feeling that comes from contemplating is awe-inspiring.

What is language? How much does it influence your experience? In which ways? Does it only influence reality, or does it also somehow create it? The whole domain of thoughts, including internal dialogue, is interlinked with language. Can thoughts arise without language? What is a thought, then? How does language influence mind, and mind influence language, if that question makes sense?

How can a fool recognize intelligence? How can an amateur appreciate skill? Assume you're foolish, at least in some ways, not in a self-derogatory manner but in order to remain humble and inquiring.

What do you consider to be obvious? What is "obvious" but overlooked in your experience? In other words: What do you assume? Your relationship towards "the obvious" determines your degree of openness. That something is obvious is an activity you're doing. That domain is where the deepest insights can be gained.

Your concern is about sex and survival, which have nothing to do with the metaphysical. Animals gonna mate. This domain seems to involve primarily raw experience, not belief systems and intellect. So instinctive, animal behavior goes rewarded prior to other aspects like personality and intelligence. Not sure that helps.

Deconstruction is reverse engineering. It's basically contemplation. You start by recognizing assumptions you hold about something in order to get to its nature. Through this process, how something comes to existence is cognized. Similar to how reconstructing an operating system helps you understand every facet of it.

"Among the great things which are to be found among us, the Being of Nothingness is the greatest." -- Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci was a genius polymath, and I think he had enlightenment experiences. Those claims can't be made without direct consciousness. They can, but this sentence strikes me as authentic.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." -- Albert Einstein. The etymology of mysticism is mysterious.

Whatever happens within your experience isn't enlightenment.

"Make thy medicine your food, and your food thy medicine." – Hippocrates. What is your relationship towards eating? Make sure that food is seen primarily as fuel and medicine, an integral contributor to health and energy, not pleasure and entertainment. Avoid emotional eating for the most part. The key is what you eat daily. Plenty of vegetables should be included. Also legumes, grains, fruits. Any form of "real" food. If it was eaten by our ancestors, it likely is healthy. Eating cake on a birthday or drinking a glass of red wine on special occasions are fine. The body has a startling capacity to regenerate. But don't justify eating crap on a frequent basis.

Openness allows questioning. The corollary to that is: closed-mindedness prevents questioning. Radically and deeply questioning reality and yourself is seen as threatening by dogma and ideology.

Beliefs and ignorance seem to come hand in hand. When not-knowing is the case, we'll make answers up. This in turn prevents openness and obfuscates what's taking place -- not-knowing as your actual condition. In order to cover it up, you superficially adopt belief systems of all kinds. Not-knowing, although considered a malady in our culture, isn't "bad" per se. It is simply the case. In fact, it is what allows for deep learning to take place. Wonder and creativity emerge from it.

Sense-making and decision-making can be improved. Contemplate what both are. How would you qualify your decisions? Pay attention when choosing. Step back. Look at the big picture. Decide deliberately and intelligently. Which option is empowering, effective and serves your goals? Furthermore, remember: sometimes, not deciding is the best decision. When appropriate, decide not to decide. Become aware of how your indecision is disempowering. Start taking your responsibility back. The quality of your decisions determines the quality of your life.

My life purpose is philosophy as it was originally intended to be in ancient Greece -- the love of wisdom. It's an open-ended question, freed from any domain of human knowledge and belief system. The spirit of this work is personal and experiential inquiry into what's true. Another aspect is working on how to be more present, real and effective. Lastly, a skill I'm developing is investigating the overlooked obvious.

No thought is true. A thought is about something. "The map is not the territory." Contemplate the implications of this.

Multi-perspectivalism: being willing and able to change perspectives frees you from them. Being unable to do that indicates unconscious attachment to a particular perspective.

When it comes to simple communications, do you dismiss them or take them for granted as obvious or common sense? There might be something deeper behind them. Especially if they're coming from someone skilled, listen carefully: Where are they coming from? Which experience are they referring to? What's the reality behind the communications? How are they perceiving reality in such a way that allows them to be skillful?