UnbornTao

Exactly

No lasagna for you.

Low quality post. If you'd like, start a new thread but this time being clear on what you are trying to get across.

The purpose of this journal is to share questions, perspectives, and insights (plus the miscellaneous consideration/piece of content) on zen, consciousness and personal empowerment in order to deepen my own understanding, improve my communication skills, and hopefully assist others in seeing something in a new light. I hope the content is inspiring.

"What we have opened up so far in this experiment is an opportunity to get clear that most of us are not clear where our experience of the world, of others, and of ourselves in the world is actually happening. In other words, we often encounter life through some theory or belief, rather than encountering life as we actually live it. As a result, we attempt to comprehend or understand life as it is encountered through these theories or beliefs, rather than comprehending life as it is actually lived. And as a consequence, we interact with life (the world, others, and ourselves) from these theories or beliefs, rather than interacting with life as it is actually lived. A master encounters life as it is lived, and as a consequence deals with life as it is lived, rather than dealing with life through the filter of some theory or belief. It is not that a master has not theories or beliefs, rather a master holds his or her theories, beliefs, knowledge, and experience so to speak above himself or herself so that it doesn't act as a filter, but illuminates what is encountered." --Werner Erhard

A nihilistic perspective may be adopted to justify one’s own lack of action. There is a deep-seated bias in your desires and preferences motivating you to think this way. You question and doubt why to do something instead of why not to do it, hoping to find a reason, a motive, or an inherent meaning that moves you to action, as if they were hidden under rocks. This desire stems from feeling as if one's self and life are lacking. Otherwise, you remain lazy and complacent, gratifying your immediate impulses, avoiding any kind of confrontation and hard work. Nihilism keeps you comfortable in your unconsciousness, in your passivity, and in your defeatist attitude. In its nature, this disposition is more ego, more unconscious behavior. Ask yourself why you decide to adopt it, if you do. Another important factor is not realizing that you have deliberately decided to adopt such a mentality at some point. Acting nihilistically is your activity, which you can stop doing. This involves becoming experientially aware of the root of the action itself. Another option is simply to recognize that this is something you want to experience since you are doing it, and therefore you might as well enjoy it. Enjoy it, you want to experience it. What is not recognized within this disposition is that taking non-meaning as negative is still significant! You are giving that fact a negative meaning. To hear the proposition that life is devoid of meaning requires hearing it as such; if it is devoid of meaning, it cannot be negative! It could be said that reality transcends meaning. Life, your life, is a blank slate waiting for you to build the meaning you want. I recommend that this be constructive and empowering for you. It could be, as powerful examples, discovering the truth, understanding everything, transcending your self, mastering life, mastering a couple of skills. Clearly, creating something—anything—requires being responsible for realizing it; being the source of the meaning of your life, that is, nothing and no one is going to do it for you, but it entirely depends on you. For the same reason children play, the main reason behind your actions could simply be to enjoy the act and the process of playing the game itself; doing something, anything, with full attention and presence, with enjoyment, sensitivity, and excellence, until your mother calls you for dinner. Like any game, when all is said and done, it is free from a final purpose that will bring you an idealized sense of completion. Life itself is like a game, whose purpose lies in playing with all your being and mastering the game, in understanding all its components and playing to win, to finally put the game pieces back in the box. Otherwise, enjoy your non-meaning, as it is meaningful to you. -- wordy and convoluted. will edit it at some point.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Good question and a better one to ask oneself: What is greed?

Might polish this up at a later time. Effectively, in this case no. That's what is meant by direct. The realization is the beingness of it; there is no separation. Is is you now. Therein lies the mystery. Why it occurs is just that it somehow occurs. Some people might spend their lifetimes meditating without getting very far, while another might comprehend it without much prior work or intention—or with no previous training at all, like Ramana, though he is an extremely rare case. Go figure. Then again, “why” might not apply; it’s us getting ahead of ourselves. What is it? (I’m talking about the realization itself, not the thoughts about something called “awakening.”) You're still considering it as something. It is no thing, nothing, not nothing, something, everything, all and neither. It exists in the domain of paradox. One can't grasp infinity through the mind. As a game, try to think of infinity. Now, notice everything your mind comes up with is not and can't possibility be, it. The best it can do is imagine, "lots and lots going on forever." This is a notion and as such, relative. Oh, and just to be clear, that doesn’t mean you can’t say anything about it—that’s what language is for. So, if you want a definition, it’s becoming deeply conscious of the absolute nature of you and existence. And there's no substance to it so in truth nothing to be explained. You can articulate shifts within your experience and perhaps the impact it had on your mind, but these are secondary to it, and seem as varied as there are individuals in the world. There is no position to be had. Either one grasps it or does not. Where the work needs to happen is within your experience. What we think of it makes no difference and is standing right now in the way of us wondering about it. Here, we’re having fun chatting. We find ourselves unconscious of our own true nature. Why? We just do. Everything we do occurs within the "dream", so it itself can't produce an experience of waking up. Who does? You. As we exist within it, everything we have is our experience of the dream. In this state, we encounter a paradoxical fact; everywhere we look, ourself isn't to be found. And yet, it seems that having the intention to wake up opens up the possibility for it to occur. That is contemplation. Is the event of waking up caused by what preceded it within the dream? From within the dream, it might appear that way. Having awoken, though, whatever action was thought to be the catalyst, is recognized to have been part of the dream. Independent from all that, somehow "you" woke up. Have you heard of the koan Mu? That’s the ultimate “answer,” and appropriate here. Mu

@Razard86 Edited my response above a bit. All you talk about is relative.

What does it take for you to create your own feedback? One thing that comes to mind is paying closer attention to what you are aware of, thinking, and doing throughout any given process, activity, event. Increase your conscious sensitivity--openly aware to what's in front of you. And keep going in that direction of increasing awareness.

@Razard86 Too much "this and that" and asserting things. Things like "there is more than one absolute" are BS. It is clear to me that is not coming from a breakthrough. You can take it as it is.

@Razard86 That's a bunch of intellectual ideation, you are not clear on your nature.

It's a tricky situation. Essentially, talk him out of it. I don't know the person, and this isn't therapeutic advice. I could point out that this ideation might be based on a desire for acknowledgement, or on a belief that one's emotional pain is unbearable for oneself. This isn't true. Maybe bring up situations when you've felt similarly to him, and tell him they just pass and life moves on. Show him he's stronger than he thinks. Situations of that nature can be used as lessons in many ways. But suicide itself is an act of cowardice, and rather foolish. Maybe getting grounded and detaching oneself from the circumstances help him see the situation more dispassionately, impersonally, free of so much drama and turmoil. Just some thoughts.

Learn to make new, subtle distinctions within the sense of smell and your experience of aromas. Use these to learn about learning, and to understand and apply principles such as correction and feedback into your life: fragrance-analysis - Unknown.docx fragrance-terminology - Unknown.docx I know the documents could be a bit more detailed, but that's enough to get us started.

Tried to polish up my post above. You take it to be something, perhaps a result of a process, or a hidden, inaccessible piece of knowledge lying somewhere. Certain things seem to help (but aren't a requisite), yet why it happens is an unknown. Perhaps the notion that it is something to be triggered reflects my point that it is considered relative--but I'm nitpicking. I'm going to be even more pedant now. It is a sensible question to ask and sounds coherent on paper, but is based on flawed assumptions. See above. That said, while we are not enlightened, we are going to be engaged in something, doing something. So, contemplating--being open and wanting to get it--seem to help. It is rare, but not impossible, that a breakthrough falls on your ass. Yet again, why this happens is a mystery--there's no causal relationship (there is nothing really), and it is "done"--the insight occurs. Because it doesn't "happen", and why relates to motive, function, purpose, which are invented and applied. Being is as itself already, rather than a result or occurrence, which are relative. At this point, someone like Rinzai could point the way. Believing decreases wanting to inquire into things, in this case your nature. Consider for example how we tacitly live as if our perception were an accurate reflection of objective reality. If we were to experience that as something presumed, we'd be more open to questioning it. But we don't, and so we keep on operating from such presumption. We can see that belief isn't just a thought that you hold as part of your internal dialogue--they can show up for us as reality. Again, are they recognized as beliefs, which implies recognizing that they are not the truth, nor can they be? If or when they are recognized as such, then I don't have a problem with that. In another context, believing yourself to be a capable person, for example, is immensely valuable and positive. You might as well believe yourself to be worthless and live as if that were true. However, both of those are beliefs, not the truth of you. Our main assumption is that our beliefs are mostly cognized by us--yet most of them are just assumed--they are reality for us. This is the point that's easily missed. I think you're considering one particular category of beliefs, that of consciously adopted ones. Assumptions are the most profound of all. The trick lies in recognizing them as such, in a deeply experiential way. From that, increased openness radically empowers your capacity and willingness to question stuff. Depends on the practice, and whether they are "going after" it instead of merely going through the motions. But it isn't about how much time a technique or ritual is followed, or about the practice itself--the practice at best provides direction and focus for the mind. That said, likely the one who is more open. Belief, or the way it is held in one's mind, effectively displaces an experience of openness. Luck doesn't apply; I'm saying we don't know why it happens, and yet it does. A bit like living as a dream character, doing this and that, and all of a sudden waking up from the dream.

I'm not saying lying or self-dishonesty has to be deliberate or conscious; it's just that things might get over our heads, and to varying degrees. Be open. We might think we apprehend the nature of something while in reality we concluded, believed something, etc., and confused these acts with perceiving whatever is true. Just a reminder.

Sounds good. Make sure that that is a true statement for you.

It is about one's relationship to beliefs. Also, most assumptions aren't recognized as such, but are subliminally-held and these make up how we experience reality--like fish in water. Observe how belief tends to close people off, as it effectively displaces openness. Acknowledging their beliefs as beliefs is difficult for people, much less questioning them, as this inquiry, done sufficiently deeply, would invalidate their reality. They'd have to admit that their cherished convictions are but affectations, intellectual indulgences adopted from without in order to make up for their unwillingness and incapacity to experience things for themselves. What if your self (what you take yourself to be) is itself an assumption? This is how deep this belief business goes. About the realization, you hold it as relative, as a process. You think there is something there, or a "there" to be found, as if under a rock, or in the depths of our unconscious minds. It is a sudden event, and why it occurs is a mystery to me--not sure it is even possible to know that--you just do it, you make a leap in consciousness. You could get enlightened while walking the dog or cooking a lasagna. In this context, I was taking knowledge to be direct apprehension of what is true. Such recognition is true in so far as the depth of it goes--assuming it is authentic. "Knowledge", then, is everything else that is indirect--a product of mind and perception. I might be leaving some of your points unaddressed.

It might be a emotional state or disposition that is generated when, after having sufficiently met your needs and wants, you cling unnecessarily to the pursuit of more for its own sake, hoping it will fulfill something it cannot--such as emotional needs, a longing for meaning, intimacy, or recognition. Regardless of that, What is so-called greed when experienced for oneself? For example: What about the functional pursuit of money might eventually turn into a "greed" relationship?

@Razard86 You try to defend your position so firmly, it makes me think that you might be speaking from intellect rather than personal, experiential insight. Why the strong, even defensive, assertiveness? If at this moment the truth is unknown, better to acknowledge that. That helps us investigate with fresh eyes, or in a new light.

Learned a new word.

Reconsider what contemplation is.