hundreth

There is a good reason for it. Survival. Early survival depended on our ability to see patterns in randomness and to make snap judgments. Rational thought is slow and arduous. It's unable to provide our ancestors with the survival advantages that emotional and rapid cognitions do. As such, our brains have been programmed by evolution to make all kinds of rapid cognitions, that in this modern time, are simply prone to error. In other words, if you come in contact with a tiger in the wild you don't have time to rationally examine whether it's a threat or a friend. Your brain will find a pattern, wild animal = scary. Get away. Note: there is no problem with looking for patterns, as long as you aren't biased towards confirming those patterns. Patterns are not the problem. This bias is okay for survival purposes, but you don't want bias anywhere near the pursuit of truth.

Very interesting point! We often hear critiques of rationality alongside phrases like "Experience is KING" But really, the following is more apt: "Experience is the mind's BITCH" While experience itself is unlimited, it is always being interpreted and filtered through the mind. Consider each time you recall a memory, you rebuild it. There's a reason why eye witness testimony is considered one of the least reliable sources of truth. We are also subject to tons and tons of confirmation bias. Why do millions believe in simplistic newspaper astrology horoscopes? They will argue that they directly FEEL these horoscopes and astrological charts are correct. Confirmation bias can also kick in when meditating, or experiencing an altered state of consciousness brought on by an entheogen. Your mind is wired to look for patterns. If you expect to experience something, chances are you will "experience it." A healthy balance of critical thinking and open mindedness is key.

Mixing it up some more:

If you're in the mood for something more upbeat:

Love this

Exactly The holes I've seen in his words cannot be unseen. He's been tainted as a source of truth. I can still find value, but it's not of the same magnitude. I did appreciate a lot of it. It made me think about the teacher - student relationship in more depth. I'm not going to hang on every word he says though, it's not that serious. Anyways, I don't want to hijack this thread. Fun chat dude. Catch you again later!

Yes, and non truth represents lower states of consciousness. For example, it might feel good to believe we are the center of the universe and all heavenly bodies revolve around us. It's still a less conscious perspective.

Strawman. That's not what I'm saying. In this case, we are being critical of the material in and of itself. I've had no prior knowledge of Ra before reading this text. All my impressions of how valuable his words are come directly from the words themselves.

So I should blindly follow anything anyone tells me? When the conversation turns into: Why is truth more valuable than non truth? - it becomes apparent how confused some of you have become with all of this.

It is relevant to me. When an omniscient being like Ra shares insight about what I need to do to reach greater levels of consciousness, his credibility is going to factor into how strongly I follow his advice. If I believe Ra to be 100% truthful I'm going to do exactly as he says. Why wouldn't I?? If the story were absolutely true, it wouldn't matter to you?

Like I said, you can take something of value from the tale even if it's not true. There IS a big difference though. When something is true, it has the ability to bring you to realizations that you don't even want to arrive to. If you are a racist and believe that a certain group of people is the devil incarnate, spending time with them and having a direct experience of the truth will force you to change your perspective. Even when you didn't want to. That's why most of us are here, to experience truth. Truth and consciousness go hand in hand.

That post was in response to me, and I replied to him. Not in the mood to write the same post, it's already in this thread. Long story short, this thread attempts to conflate open mindedness with one's ability to integrate material. You can appreciate and take something of value from a story or allegorical tale without believing it's true or based in reality. To be dismissive is to dismiss the material. In other words, not read it. I would say those of us who have read the material have passed the open mindedness test. A response other than "this is the bomb diggitty shizznitttt!!!" doesn't make one close minded.

Being critical and dismissive are two very different things.

So you're saying there are good souls and bad souls? For the sake of argument, if that were true. Is it Hitler's fault that his soul is rotten? Does he have a choice in the matter? Whether he does or not, is hate the appropriate response? One could argue change is possible, and I imagine the opposite would help bring about that change. Unconditional love.

Whoa man, great questions. I often wonder many of the same things. It does seem odd that absolute infinity would have some kind of "bias" towards "love" or positive energy. So I'm not sure what the answer is there. If the answer is that love is an energy that allows phenomena, that's not really saying anything... that's just playing the semantics game and changing the definition of love. You could say that absolute infinity allows a certain amount of negative energy simply to highlight the good energy, to create a contrast as this dualist illusion - but there's more "love." I don't buy this though. Seems our western minds are still stuck on this anthropomorphic image of God with biases, etc. You often see movies and various media where "good always wins in the end." In the east, you see symbols like yin yang. There's an equal amount of light and dark. There's a balance. In the end, there's peace. I personally resonate with that more. Regarding purpose and improving the world, ultimately it's just an experience. There is no better or worse way to be. Just be true to yourself. Infinity allows for all possibilities. Really looking forward to other answers, and good luck on your journey.

Obviously, I'm being facetious. There is some truth there though. We are here in this illusory state having the human experience. There's very little which exemplifies the human experience more than Jersey Shore. Many people resonate with this content on a very emotional level. In some ways, we should be open minded to it. We too, must represent absolute stupidity to a being of Ra's omniscience. Not trying to be a dick @Leo Gura. Much love.

I have an open mindedness test for you all: If you find yourself wondering "Why would I waste 35 minutes of my life watching this?" - just remember, there must be a valuable lesson here for us. Otherwise, why would Ra waste his time talking to us?

Fair enough, although this would be less about open mindedness and more about integration. For example, I could experience personal growth from reading Harry Potter books if I'm tuned into the right lessons. I don't know @Leo Gura - it's possible you've read so much self-help material that this is what's left for you, scavenging for whatever scraps are left over in the form of allegorical tales. Given where I'm at, I feel like there's so much quality material out there. Being more selective over the material I ingest is in my best interest for personal growth. I personally know many New Age truth seekers who lack a filter around the information they perceive to be true. They ingest everything, and the result is an even further warped sense of reality from where they started. To me it seems like you've started out on this path as a rationalist minded skeptic. This is your nature. You've discovered the limitations and have adopted a viewpoint that is almost a form of self hatred. You're now rebounding very far into the opposite direction. I imagine you'll find your balance soon. I will admit I have been stuck in a "stage Orange" mindset for some time. Your videos have helped me open up and see the limitations there. I thank you for that. I've also had profound psychedelic experiences which have given me glimpses. At the same time, I will not fight my nature. My logical abilities are a gift, and undoubtably given to "me" for a reason to balance out this dualistic illusion. Not all of us are meant to run around believing fairy tales. Embrace your purpose.

I agree with this. You can make informed decisions using science. For example, I read the PDF and came across the part where Ra describes how the pyramids were built through "thought" but made to look as though they were built by hand. I may be paraphrasing but that is the basic gist of the story. The thing is, we have tons of evidence pointing to how the pyramids were built, and guess what: they fly completely in the face of what "Ra" is claiming. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/who-built-the-pyramids.html http://michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/2012/07/build-great-pyramid-today/ https://www.hopechannel.com/read/aliens-or-egyptians-who-really-built-the-pyramids So open mindedness can only take you so far. When you reach evidence that goes against what you want to believe, part of being a truth seeker is accepting the truth. You have to weigh both sides to determine what is most likely to be true. Is it wiser to believe Ra, the extraterrestrial life form speaking through a human medium based on nothing more than hearsay, or is it wiser to trust the leading experts in the field spending years researching this stuff? It only takes one error on Ra's part to destroy all of this story's credibility. I was open minded enough to read it, but that's where it ends. I'm calling bull on this one.

One and the same.

I think it's really interesting and not all that surprising that Leo decided to walk on the path towards becoming a sage. Check out this article that goes into depth about spiral dynamics and levels of consciousness for each of the Enneagram archetypes: http://www.goconscious.com/home/articles/levels_of_consciousness_and_the_enneagram.html I'm not saying I'm too into boxing people into types, but I recall @Leo Gura mentioning he was an INTP - and it just so happens the most fully actualized form for his archetype is an enlightened sage (According to this view.) So this could be the perfect path to take FOR LEO. That said, there are different archetypes with different fully actualized forms. Take a look: You may find your calling to be more adventurous, or less involved with society altogether. It's OKAY. If we are true to ourselves, we will find ourselves expressing what is deep inside us.

Hey guys, Just wanted some insight on something I've been going through. More recently I've been very into learning about enlightenment and trying different things along the path. All the while, I've been living in a foreign country, meeting family I've never known before, and in the midst of a stressful time consuming relationship. Being a very introverted person, this experience has left me socially exhausted. I've found that meeting with all this family, being dragged around to social events with my girlfriend, etc is just a drain on my energy instead of inspiring me. I've been falling back on this concept of enlightenment as a justification for my behavior. I recently ended my relationship with my girlfriend after dating heavy for 4 months. We had several issues, some you could call red flags, but there was a lot of love there. I simply ended it because I felt like it wasn't worth dealing with, and focusing on enlightenment would be a more worthwhile experience. Now that I've had some time to essentially be alone, I'm realizing this could all simply be an excuse to escape from the world around me. Where does one draw the line between enlightenment and escape? The same could be said for why I moved out to this country in the first place. I essentially left behind my job, close friends, and family for some time to be alone. Now I'm starting to question why I have such a strong desire to be left alone. Am I just a solitary individual, or am I shutting out everyone close to me? I've always had trouble processing emotions and I fear I'm simply running away from them. I know that it's possible to find inner peace and happiness by turning inward, but perhaps I'm already too good at that. I've learned that everything is simply a game, just an experience. Even still, it's such an enormous, beautiful world out there. Why not experience it? I've gone through so much to change everything around me, but instead I'm right back to sitting at home meditating. Sorry for the long post, just venting I guess.

Yeah, that's exactly it. It's such a mind fuck when the most courageous action you can take looks exactly the same as the most cowardly. I believe that sometimes in solitude we discover just how truly inter-dependent we really are. At any moment, I can jump back into the game. What I'm meditating on right now is why I felt compelled to disconnect in the first place, and why it always feels like such a fight. I've held this notion that my interactions with the world should feel free flowing and natural, almost effortless. What ends up happening with my current level of understanding, is that the wider network around me appears as a bunch of selfish egos aimlessly doing things. Each with their own agenda and toxic environment they attempt to pull me into. I'd like to reach a point where instead of apathy and this elusive search of zen, I will have a strong sense of purpose that shields me from the gravity of others and empowers me to connect with the world around me in constructive ways. I guess sometimes the fight is just a necessary part of the process and @Bob84 is right. I need to go back to the personal development phase and work on social skills / exploring my woefully underdeveloped emotional side. Best of luck on your journey!

Thanks dudes! Very helpful.