UnbornTao

Are you defending suffering? It is as feasible as generating it.

Can "lying" be unconscious? It seems that ignorance may lie behind certain forms of "lying." But I'm holding lying as having a broader meaning than the norm, as in operating from untrue things. This would be a deeper investigation. For example, we tend to take our beliefs to be true. We do. Yet they are beliefs--the truth is unknown. We might assume that we are X or Y, and, while not false, it is untrue, which might be called unconsciousness, or in a sense, "lying." I might be taking creative liberties with the word, though.

But isn't pleasure something distinct from happiness? Can you find pain -- and thus, likely suffering -- underlying the search for pleasure? Can one suffer and still be happy regardless? That would certainly place "happiness" in an unconventional category relative to how it is commonly understood. Essentially, what are they?

Consider that.

Nice, thank you. If there's some genuine insight beyond the rhetoric instead of something that is subjective, then that's OK.

You need to see that this is something you're doing, and how you're doing it. Essentially, it is based on what you create with your mind (what you "think"). Stop generating those expectations, ideations, and demands, and the subsequent negative feelings that result from them won't occur. Catch your own conceptual activity at the beginning of these dysfunctional thinking loops.

Dani Smash-It?

What is the nature of those realizations? What are they about? When you say: communicate with Jesus, what is that about? What actually goes through your mind, and what occurs in your experience as you do that? What is Jesus? When you say 'communicate', what is that? Does it take place in your internal dialogue, is it written down, or is it verbalized when alone?

I understand the difficulty in writing down his name.

@puporing People make claims of all kinds of stuff, especially in "spiritual" circles where fantasy abounds. That doesn't make them true. Beyond the rhetoric and trying to convince others as much as oneself, what is sourcing that claim?

@puporing What precisely do you mean by being the second coming of Christ? What is it that you're referring to as Christ? What does a claim like that have to do with honesty?

There's a theory that Jesus might have traveled to the east and studied Buddhism there. Are you sure your Lord and Savior isn't actually Gautama? "When you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

Haha

Obviously, I don't know the cause, but some of it might be withdrawal effects from quitting smoking. Quitting a drug like that isn't pretty -- even with coffee you can experience withdrawal symptoms for weeks or months. Congrats on your achievement, though -- keep it up! This isn’t professional advice, and it is rather simplistic, but it might help to some degree. It is about some foundational things: If you consume caffeine and processed sugar, consider quitting the former and drastically reducing the latter. Eat more frequently throughout the day. I've noticed that fasting (just skipping a meal or two) sometimes increases my anxiety. Fasting + drinking coffee on an empty stomach are sure to increase my anxiety levels. Move and exercise: Yoga, Tai Chi, walking, running, swimming, weightlifting--any activity or sport will do. Ideally one that is relatively intense, and a couple that are more lightweight. Limit screen time, and avoid blue light exposure at least an hour before bed. Look into potential supplements or vitamins (research and consult your doctor). I've heard magnesium is beneficial for this, and I personally like L-Theanine.

Who's gonna call a lie stage X or Y?

Zen sticks for those committed to fantastical thinking.

@puporing That messiah complex stinks from a mile away. If you think that to begin with, I don't think there's anything anyone could say to make you challenge that.

You mean humans.

God has no religion -Gandhi.

Someone should start a new religion.

@puporing Why would the truth cater to any individual? Jesus was likely profoundly conscious. But what we know of him is myth for the most part. We should notice this dynamic: an individual has some kind of breakthrough, communicates it, and it eventually degrades into a religion -- this is done by the "followers." "And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, 'It is written, "My house shall be a house of prayer," but you have made it a den of robbers.” I hear the above passage as: "Contemplate (prayer) for yourself instead of exchanging beliefs." Regarding believing a teacher, it is actually not needed. You can simply be willing to listen to what they have to say. The problem isn't so much the believing itself but not recognizing it as such, and conflating that act with something it is not.

Fuck what anyone says -- including oneself. Ultimately, it is always about personal comprehension. Short of that, why defend a notion, something assumed, that essentially boils down to "hearsay" or rumor in one's experience? We could start with the simple fact that we don't really know who Jesus was or what he said (or most other "religious" figures for that matter). So how could we assume belief is warranted here? Do we even know what it is that's being believed? Have we taken the trouble to investigate belief itself -- something that, by its very nature, isn't and can't be true? Again, I think a claim like "Jesus wasn't a Christian" can illuminate this whole dynamic of faith. But it's clear that a belief was adopted at some point, displacing any possibility for insight to occur, unless the belief is challenged.

It's usually hard for anyone to challenge their own presumptions about themselves and existence, especially the deepest ones. Yet, the ones consciously adopted -- being more superficial -- are more easily recognized as artifice. In other words, you likely notice, at some level, that they are just beliefs -- as something that is not true for you; you simply like them. Hopefully, they're beneficial in some way, but that doesn't make them true. And, especially with religion, they more often than not undermine genuine inquiry. I'd invite you to consider why you feel so drawn to adopting and believing in a set of presumptions in the first place -- and to notice that this has nothing to do with honesty. An assertion such as "Buddha wasn't a Buddhist" isn't just a cute saying; it points to the principle of responsibility. It isn’t so much about what Jesus said -- it's about the mass of people, not having truly grasped what is being conveyed, yet believing in it nonetheless and use it as a pretext for all kinds of unconscious behavior -- which often is directly antithetical to what the original guy said. This is a propagation of ignorance, not consciousness. But we aren't aware of this difference.

Jesus, another religion is emerging. Faith and doubt (questioning) are not the same; as a matter of fact, the former tends to preclude the latter. A "crisis of faith" occurs when someone starts doubting their faith -- questioning it. One of the main appeals of adopting a religion is that it seems to relieve us of any personal responsibility. Why go through the struggle of challenging one's conception of existence and self and go towards what's genuine, when taking on a nice set of beliefs is so much easier and faster? But what does this result in?