Echoes

Hey, anybody here read this series? I finished the first book and am currently reading the third. Walsh was at a major low in his life - a fire destroyed all his belongings, his marriage broke, a car accident that left him with a broken neck. After this he recovered but was alone and unemployed, living in a tent and collecting/recycling aluminium cans to have something to eat. Frustrated and angry, because he couldn't understand what he had done to deserve all this, he wrote a letter to God, expressing all of his confusion and anger. To his surprise, god answered! (Atleast this is what he "claims") Of course, we can never prove this 100%. God "channeled" through him, and answered all his questions, resulting in this trilogy. I really liked the books so far. It contains deep wisdom in a simple language and is therefore a really easy and fast read: God is not "talking" in some abstract, metaphorical language that is hard to decipher. Quite the contrary, "he" uses a very accessible, simple language that even contains a fair amount of humour. The impression that the book provides of God is coherent with everything I heard and experienced so far of God on the spiritual path. God is not some father figure in the clouds, but the infinite itself. The empty womb, pregnant with all possibilities. Has anybody here read his books? Do you think he really talked with God? In the end, it doesn't matter that much, because the wisdom is still there, even if Walsh wrote it himself, but I am still curious what you think. (Walsh repeatedly asks God this question in the conversations: "How can I be sure it is you? What if I'm just talking with myself?" God answers: "Does it really matter? Can you imagine a better way to live as it is presented our conversations?"

@Nahm He says "try for yourself and feel free to disagree". But I found his stories about clients he had where things backfired very interesting. It isn't that he thinks that the personality is a stationary object, but more that it has a complex dynamic consisting of several unconscious beliefsystems/social circumstances/fears/wishes/etc. So when you change certain things in that system the whole system changes and adapts. There are sometimes dynamics for example where one is focusing or fixating on thoughts that ultimately do not serve them, but still one is continuing holding on because they are getting something out of it. (Like a victim mentality: It doesn't do good, but the fixating on a bullying, negative world that want you see suffer is prefered to having to face fear and admit mistakes)

@Nahm Did you "purify" or uncover your unconscious negative thoughts/beliefs before/during practicing positive thinking? I'm asking because I watched this video recently He states that it will not work if you just cover your deep rooted convictions about yourself with a superficial layer of positive thinking, because the different personality-fragments will be in conflict and find expression sooner or later (simplified). He bases this statement on years of observation as a hypnotherapist

@Dharam Your time was not wasted. That's a bullshit story you are telling yourself. Actually, the regret could be a defense mechanism having it's roots in fear of taking action now. Do you want to spend your energy and time now in dwelling over the past and regret, or actually do what you want to do and spend the energy creativily? The regret story is an unconscious ego-maneuver to justify staying in old patterns. "Oh had I just known this, my past would have been glorious and I would be perfectly happy and proud now looking back; but since this is not the case, I'm unhappy, because my life story should be better/more complete/contain more success/contain less of what I'm ashamed of/etc. Since I wasted all this time, I would forever be behind of where I could be, and the awareness that a more successfull past could have been possible is hitting me so hard that it feels futile to take action now" All this had/would/should/could is just you arguing with reality. It's a pure fantasy story like Harry Potter (Look up Leos video "Stop moralizing") You have to call bullshit on the part in you that wants yesterday to be different instead of doing what you want to do now. It's just a story; the past doesn't even exist except in the telling of the story.

@Dizzy I have no experience with something like this. But what I found out is that whenever there is negative energy, it is there for a reason. And it is (imo) not enough to assume or speculate on a intellectual, superficial manner about the source of it. You have to shine your concentrated awareness on it. Just experience the energy and look where it takes you, and be patient (but usually it doesn't take long). The energy is the conscious consequence of unconscious personality-fragments and belief structures. You have to go to the underlying core. "What is this feeling? What fuels it? Which part of me is resisting?" This is what I would try first. I've adopted the attitude to view everything that happens to me as a lesson to reveal something. Even simple things like feeling uncomfortable when somebody looked at me in the grocery store. It's really surprising and quite shocking often to see what mechanisms where running all this time in the organism and steered your behavior and emotional responses. Best wishes

@Scholar

@Alicja_ I wouldn't press this whole personal development thing in a category and subset of specific actions and thought patterns. You started your journey on this path and know that it exists. You take it seriously, even if there are phases where [specific subset of action patterns] not happen for a while. Your whole life is a process of personal development, it isn't limited to what you have read in a book or a video, or even what you project into this category. How do you know that this phase you are in right now isn't contributing more to your growth then any studying of theory? My advice: Keep things simple and don't pressure yourself. Stop telling yourself the story that you fell of the wagon and should as fast as possible return to [specific subset of action patterns] and that something bad will happen if you don't. The motivation will return on it's own, you can't "should" yourself into it. That will only produce guilt and neurotic worry. I can't recommend this video enough:

@Leo Gura Do you still sometimes have periods of doubt about nonduality and fall back into assumptions of the "old" paradigm? If yes, how do you deal with such periods?

Maybe this would be like a psychedelic Mahasamadhi

@PetarKa Isn't it wonderful? It doesn't matter how one spends his lifetime: miserable, fullfilled, pathetic, anxious, depressed, joyful, lost, ... Total freedom! Nobody cares what you do. No "higher" meaning dictating anything. No jury at the end of life where you have to hand in your life, so somebody can judge if it was a good life or not. "I better be fullfilled in life and make the most of it, so that I get my degree and official certificate of a "good life"". As a child you just played, seeing miracles everywhere, entranced by life. Then you entered the neurotic school system, where every thing had to have a purpose for some later point where this "very important" previous actions where tested. Suddenly everything is so serious, because some external authority is judging you. Now you have the possibility to find this awe for life again and enjoy your freedom, without a superimposed important meaning. You even have the freedom to kill yourself. Notice how easy it would be... no big deal. Not as hard as people make it. But why do it? Just play with the thought that you could do it everytime and look what arises. "Ah ok, yea I could hang myself now...But I can also do this and that and someday maybe see this place..." And all of it without fear because you made friendship with death and have absolutely nothing to lose. Freedom is the only thing there is. The freedom of choosing your mode and perspective of living. Ranging from ecstatic wonder to neurotic search for meaning. I wonder though why someone would choose the latter?

Leo Gura = Enki the wicked confirmed

@PetarKa Ask yourself which part of you so desperately wants a meaning. What would this meaning be anyway? Pointlessness is in itself pointless, it has no inherent meaning. It is neither negative nor positive. So why did you decide to judge it negatively? Investigate your beliefstructure about why meaninglessness is a bad thing for you. dig until you hit the core

@Blackjohn Maybe check out the book "How to read a book" by Mortimer J. Adler. I am reading it currently and it definitely has very good points in it. Has the potential to improve and revolutionize your book reading forever imo. The topic can of course be a bit dry at times, but I think it's a good time investment if you are reading a lot.

@OnceMore You are living in a "should" self-image story of yourself. And you project a mental image of the mental images that others have of you in the world. "I was this person, and everybody treated and talked to me in a way I found satisfying, because of their actions I could assume what thoughts and what image they have of me. So I felt safe, secure, optimistic and grounded, because I knew who I was and what I will be" "Because they think this of me, I guess I'm on a good way. I'm a worthy person with potential for [insert projected future with all sorts of girls and people who are impressed by your accomplishments here]" The "problem" is that your mental story clashes with reality now. Your story of past and future exploded into pieces of disappointment, shame, guilt, self-hate, anger, regret and uncertainty. Who determines where you should be in life now? The expectation of you, your family, your friends, your enemys, society at large? "My past should have been different, because I think I have to meet a made up norm/expectation of people who think they are the center of the universe, otherwise nobody is gonna like me and something bad happens to me!" Reality says you are at this exact stage in life where you are now, and already accepted you. But you decided to argue with reality "No reality is wrong, I should be somewhere else now, the past should have been different." Reality is never lying to you, but your mind is. You are in hell right now. But the positive thing is that you are self-creating this hell unconsciously, because there is absolutely NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. This means you can free yourself and climb up again as a new version. You have to ask yourself now if you want to rescue your story of [this particular person, with this particular strengths and abilitys, with this particular future outlook, with this particular reputation, who is viewed by other people in this particular way]. If you decide to do this, you are going to feel bad, stressed and anxious. Because you are running after your estimated story, so that everything is ok again and you can feel worthy and not shameful in the presence of other people, because you fear their questions of what you are doing with your life. But this moment of "I'm finally done and everything is ok again, and afterall I'm proud of myself" will not come, because you whole mindset and motivation is lack-oriented, which results out of fear and not trust. So you will generate more lack and fear. This is btw the path that most of humanity is choosing. Trying to stay loyal to projections of other people, so that they can keep believing in their own projection of themselves. Without it they would not know who they are. So nothing "wrong" with it per se, but not the best life strategy if you ask me. The other option is to completely destroy your whole world. Burn it all into pieces. As Jordan Peterson would say, you are in the domain of chaos right now, the illusion of order you thought you and your life is going down was shattered. You might never get a chance like this again to completely destroy your whole web of beliefs, stories, assumptions about you and the opinion of others about you. You don't know what awaits you at the other side and it might take a little time until you stabilize again. But this is the way to freedom and growth. This is the way of climbing out of the pit of hell completely and not just jump into another pit where you worry about your place in the world, your social identity status, the projection of other monkeys on this rock circling around a fireball. This is the way of introspection and inner work, not of looking for a fast external fix so that everything is in order again. There is no order. You are going to fucking DIE SOON. Everybody fails in the end. The people who have nice houses, girlfriends and careers can play for a few years with it before they are old, shitting themselves in the pants, and finally die and get eaten by insects. Just like you will. "But I want to be liked by this corpse in my old neighborhood" Do you want to LIVE NOW and do what you want, and fuck the other corpses, or do you want their validation of your mental pictures? Nobody cares about your life. Honestly: Nobody gives a shit. Nobody here in this forum, and nobody of your family and your friends. Dont think you are this important that somebody spends more than 5 minutes thinking about your assumed failure of a life. It's all you. Now, what do you want to do with your life?! You can't fail, because you will fail in the end anyways lying in a coffin while people standing there already worrying about their own shitty life again. You get what you want or you don't, that's all. But no matter what happens, it doesn't say anything about your life. Because "your" life only ever exists as a mental story, consisting of distorted memories which you can't even be sure they happened the way you imagined them. Fuck the past and think. Start journaling and write down everything that bothers you and everything that you want to do with your life. Contemplate until you hit the very emotional core of your suffering and I promise you it will get better. Sorry if I am a little rude, but I'm also talking to myself here, because I was and am in a very similar situation to yours

@Leo Gura Leo what do you mean with "physical death"? Literally the death of the body? What happens if I would shoot myself in the head now? You said once in this thread that the brain creates experiences, but also that the brain is not in direct experience and therefore only an assumption. In one video you said "you think you take a chemical substance that alters your brain and just creates chemical effects...No! you seriously belief that there is a brain that renders reality..." (something like this) Can you explain more about the role of the brain in all this?

The collective dream that we are living on a rock called "earth" in the era of the 21st century in modern, industrial/materialist society is a self-reinforcing nightmare. I wonder if this is what the buddhists mean when they say there are certain hell-realm bardos. Maybe the dream of "humanity in the 21st century" is an available bardo/reality that is always existent in the sphere of infinity and eternity, waiting to hypnotize beings with the dream of thoughts. But is also already completely free of it, because actually there are no problems in presence. Just a game of "How deep can we fall into darkness and seperation and still find the way back to love?" "But what with suffering?" stop believing in time and self created stories "But what with starving children in africa?" stop believing that they actually exist "But what with all the things wrong in society?" stop believing that culture has any reality "But.." just stop and look what's actually reality and what's a self created story. The world is self-created. How can it be real? Watching news from the year 2017 and 1843 makes no difference right? neither has more reality than the other. I'm not sure what would benefit the coexisting beings the most: Stop dreaming altogether or re-dreaming the collective consciousness with a more positive and loving projection? But ultimately positive and loving thoughts also have no reality... It seems that some dreaming is necessary though for interaction, atleast in this developmental stage of communication and interaction.

Yes, any thought is of course not true. Be it a spiritual "insight" in language/mental images or the idea of donald trump as the president. All language is just letters sorted in another combination, not able to referring to any other thing than itself

@How to be wise well, a combination of all those of course Isn't this the case for most of the stuff here? First you hear about it from some source, then you think/contemplate about it and other stuff on the topic and the implications it has, and eventually insights happen or not.

@bernieboy20

cool story bro. You feel better now about the nagging worry that there might actually be some truth about this whole enlightenment thing?

Look why the panic arises. What are you afraid of? But don't settle with intellectual, rational assumptions. You have to go to the very emotional core of it. That actually feels very counterintuitive to do (atleast for me) because you will find a lot of resistance, the resistance and emotional energy are like signposs leading you directly to the core. It's nothing more than resistance against something. What are you resisting? look deeply. Also:

additional to the question of the unconscious, you can also ask: If there is only consciousness, how can there be forces like ultraviolet radiation, atoms and so on? Which we are not conscious of. In reality they do not exists, but a mere concepts. An atom is literally a picture on some screen, a model of something that is believed to exist. The unconscious also a conceptual explained rationalisation of phenomenon who arise in consciousness. "I act like this because I have this unconscious belief" But what is actually true in reality? Is there a causal relationship between only this belief and this action? Maybe there are infinite causes for everything and no causes at all. "Things" just appear in the field of consciousness, and every causal interpretation is a human rationalisation of the mind, which actually thinks it can explain and comprehend reality.

Could be the very essence of reality. "let's create some shit to do and believe it's actually important". Maybe this is the reason most humans are in a constant state of "this can't be it, there has to be something more! future, rescue me! wait, you are telling me this is it?! no way... I have to do this and that and also this, so I can enjoy life tomorrow!" Well, there is nothing else as this moment. Better make boredom your friend

Hey, so I did a lot of contemplation, self-inquiry and journaling in the last weeks. It's basically a form of self-therapy where I just sit and look deeply into my unconscious beliefsystems and emotional-energetic patterns that rule my psychological reality. When I find the core I'm mostly able to understand the pattern and release the energy by breathing or other outbursts of anger/sadness etc. It's shocking really looking back and see how I ran my whole life with all these unconscious beliefs and stored energy. It's so fucking twisted and self deceptive beyond comprehension. The thing of course is that I know that I'm far from being completely healed. There are still self deceptive patterns and alot of delusion going on. How can I trust myself if I know that all my decisions and basically all of my perception is ruled by this vast web of unconscious energies/beliefs, and that my perception of reality and myself is deluded? This mostly applies in areas where the mind is necessary: making life decisions, interacting with other humans, where I can't rest in beingness so much. Is it possible to completely heal myself with this approach? or is it just another attempt of "Oh I better do this so I'll be complete and better in the future"? How do you find trust?