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Everything posted by jjer94
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jjer94 replied to Emerald's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
What else could it be? That emptiness around your perceptions is the "I Am." Notice how if you stop believing yourself to be a body and instead the "I Am" that encompasses the body and everything else, it feels as though everything - even sounds and sights - are inside you. And it's all very much alive. Do you see? Sights and sounds were never external to you - that was just an artificial distinction. All sense perceptions are manifestations of your true nature. Can you see from this that on one hand you are everything? "Learn to look without imagination, to listen without distortion: that is all. Stop attributing names and shapes to the essentially nameless and formless, realize that every mode of perception is subjective, that what is seen or heard, touched or smelt, felt or thought, expected or imagined, is in the mind and not in reality, and you will experience peace and freedom from fear. Even the sense of ‘I am’ is composed of the pure light and the sense of being. The ‘I’ is there even without the ‘am’. So is the pure light there whether you say ‘I’ or not. Become aware of that pure light and you will never lose it. The beingness in being, the awareness in consciousness, the interest in every experience — that is not describable, yet perfectly accessible, for there is nothing else." --Nisargadatta Maharaj -
jjer94 replied to Emerald's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
No one may be perceiving it, but there's an awareness that perception is happening. What is aware? Is it the 'nothingness'? -
jjer94 replied to Emerald's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Further... What is the substance of an object? Do objects even exist? -
jjer94 replied to bernieboy20's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Following along with @Toby .... Part of the pathless path of enlightenment is self-negation, which is essentially un-brainwashing yourself from not only your own beliefs, but also all societal assumptions (which in turn bring about societal norms). If you've seen Leo's video on 30 ways society f**ks you in the ass, then you get a sense of the beast you're up against. An example of one of the most prominent societal constructs is incompleteness. You are incomplete unless you buy this new car, marry this woman, have this career, become enlightened. You won't be happy until you have all of those things. This is my experience on the matter: If you ostracize yourself from that societal construct along with the others, you will likely act differently from the norm and be labeled as "weird". Friends and family may notice that you're not as excitable, that "you've changed." If you take this journey, there's no avoiding the possibility that you will change in some ways. This is not necessarily a bad thing though. In fact, it's very freeing. Relationships that were originally fuel for the ego will likely fizzle out, leaving you with more energy during the day. Relationships that are authentic and non-clinging will stay. You may or may not choose not to continue playing the conventional societal game. You will have no sense of obligation to anyone or anything. How is that not weird according to modern society? But even by the time you're labelled as weird, it wouldn't even phase you because you wouldn't take it personally; it becomes a non-issue. You can try to maintain your friends and family relationships the same way you have been @bernieboy20 , and if it works, it works. But in my experience, once you start waking up, something's gotta give. Either the relationships have to metamorphose, or they have to be dropped. It eventually becomes too painful, too futile, to maintain long-term ego-fueled relationships. If you're being reborn, there will probably be labor pains. -
@shouldnt Might I say you're...turning it up to 11? I'll see myself out.
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@TwoDays Again, when I said it was a fool's game, I was referring to the people that fall into the meditation trap, that enlightenment is somehow a destination they need to get to, and so they struggle and struggle and get nowhere. There are other methods...but if I told you I'd have to kill you Just kidding, I'll mention one: Peter Ralston's bottom-line contemplation. You can find it in The Book of Not Knowing. Cheers!
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@TwoDays Thanks for the reply! If you read my third paragraph, that's exactly what I said. When I make the hydra analogy, I'm referring to the people who are in the meditation trap: expecting that a silent mind will bring enlightenment. I agree to a certain extent. It's a good idea to at least set aside time to do the inner work alone. However, it doesn't necessarily have to be sitting in formal meditation. Like I said, meditation can be a powerful tool, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. There are dozens and dozens of other techniques out there besides formal meditation that can be used as a catalyst for releasing control, and in fact, some techniques can end up being more efficient than meditation. You ever hear of those people who only meditated for a couple decades and got nowhere? I never said that there's one thing against another. I just said that meditation is not required for enlightenment; nothing is. Enlightenment is a pathless path. I make no claims except to negate the belief that formal meditation is necessary. Your belief that formal sitting meditation is a necessity is just that: a belief. You may want to open your mind up to the possibility that there are alternatives, or at least supplements, to your meditation practice. Enlightenment = realizing Absolute Truth, i.e. your true nature. There are stepping stones towards enlightenment that I like to call awakenings, but you can call them enlightenment "experiences" too. In my experience, there are two aspects of enlightenment: self-realization and self-negation. Self-realizations are the awakenings that come in a flash. They are insights into your True nature, or at least getting closer to it. You may realize Truth in an instant through self inquiry work or "spiritual autopsy" as you call it (do you mean spiritual autolysis?). Some rationalizing may accompany the experience. However, just because you realize Truth doesn't mean you're done; you still have an entire self-structure intact. The act of seeing through and deconstructing that self-structure I call self-negation. That's where things like meditation and contemplations come in handy; that's really where the brunt of the work takes place. Again, this is just my experience. I hardly ever meditate anymore, because I've found other tools to be more efficient and effective. I'm also not making claims for or against anything. I'm just simply offering another perspective.
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jjer94 replied to Azrael's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
......... Don't forget attention!- 15 replies
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You don't have to meditate to reach enlightenment. Technically, you don't need to do anything to realize what you already are, because you're already it! All methods to reach enlightenment are just a matter of removing obstructions (desires, fears, beliefs) in order to see that you've been there the whole time. That's why they call it the "gateless gate." In fact, meditation can become a trap for some people when they imagine that they are getting somewhere, as if there's some destination they need to arrive to in order to be who they are. They believe that a silent mind (or feeling 'bliss' or whatever other bogus fleeting experience) means enlightenment, so they work so hard to try to silent the mind, as if you need immense effort to reach a state of effortlessness. Sure, earnestness is required to reach enlightenment, but in my opinion, trying to brute force your way to a silent mind is a fool's game. It's like cutting off the heads of a hydra when they're just going to grow back. I'm not saying that meditation is useless. When used as a way to release control, meditation can be a very powerful tool. And it doesn't necessarily have to just take place on the cushion. Life itself is your meditation. Every situation can be an opportunity to release control. Monkey mind is not the issue; it's the importance you give to your monkey mind that's the issue. Monkey mind will start to settle down a bit once you start seeing through your desires and fears (i.e. releasing control), and you don't need to be on the cushion to do that. Cheers!
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jjer94 replied to NoOne's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@NoOne I think you may have a misunderstanding here. There's no need to persuade yourself of anything. In fact, I suggest you don't do that. You've been doing enough of that your whole life. Instead, what I want is for you to see your fears for what they really are: thought sensations along with bodily sensations. Don't judge it, don't desire for it to go away, don't persuade yourself of anything; just see it for what it is. You may get some resistance, a "dark night of the soul" here or there. Not much you can do about it. Ego doesn't like to be disrupted, and it will try to do everything in its power to maintain control. All you can do for the panic attacks is just let them run their course. The more you resist resistance, the more resistance resists. The spiritual path is one of allowing. No more of, "This thought/feeling shouldn't be here." -
jjer94 replied to NoOne's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
The "horror" of existence? Uhh... let me ask you a question: Where is the horror? Is it "out there"? Is it in other people? Where exactly is it in your direct experience? Contemplate that before reading further. If you actually contemplated the above, you will find that the "horror" is all in your mind, the exact same place where the ego exists. Now, humor me for a second. What if your claim is ass-backwards? What if it's ego that's evolved to say that existence is terrible so that it can keep on surviving? Terrible, wonderful, good, evil: these are all interpretations made by the mind. They are overlays to what's actually there, which is neither good nor bad; it just is. To abide in what is is to be free from all of your problems. The problem with your problems is that you think they are real, tangible things when they are all in the mind. Part of the purpose of this spiritual work is to see your problems and attachments as illusion, as having no substance. You can't get rid of your internal mind-stuff problems by shuffling around your external circumstances the way you've been doing for awhile now. I'm sure you've figured that out by now. You're going to get several different opinions on here, all perfectly valid. I suggest that you learn to see your problems as illusion. Question your assumption that the horror is "out there", and instead look deep within to find the substance of the horror. What you'll find is that all your problems have a thought-story and a bodily sensation attached to them; that's it. The thought-story is just a story, and the bodily sensation is just a sensation, but you give solidity to your problems by actually believing the thought-story. A story is a story: never true. There is nothing wrong "out there." Work through each and every one of your problems to discover their illusory nature. In the meantime, go for realizing your True nature. There are too many books to name out there that'll help you with that. Just based on your writing, The Book of Not Knowing by Peter Ralston may be a good fit. Cheers! -
jjer94 replied to TimStr's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Hi there Tim, You will lose your fear of death after enlightenment, when you realize that what you really are was never born and can never die. Surely the body and all of its faculties, including the sense of existing (i.e. "I Am") will die, since whatever is born must die (as of current technology). However, the Truth of you will always be, and that is at least something you can lay claim to. You're afraid of death because you've put your identity and its attachments in things that are transient, i.e. your body, beliefs, memories, family members, friends. Acquire a direct encounter that you are none of these things, and your fear of death will go away. Easier said than done! Enlightenment work will help you realize what you are not, as well as see through your attachments, so I suggest keep on trucking along with that if you're already doing it. IMHO, death is one of the greatest gifts to life, because it turns life itself into a gift. When you continually remind yourself that your time here is limited, you will begin to feel overwhelming gratitude for the mystery that is life. It will also put a fire in your ass to find out what you really are, because identifying yourself with a finite body can be pretty miserable. The process of dying may be unpleasant, but the idea of death itself is nothing to be afraid of, once you realize that what you really are is eternal. Here's some food for thought to get you started on contemplating death: I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. --Mark Twain Cheers! P.S. Here's two more quotes about death that are worth contemplating: "Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another." Aleister Crowley “Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.” Naguib Mahfouz -
jjer94 replied to Court Burkhart's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Somebody came up to me with a question. What do you think the question was? He asked me, “Are you enlightened?” What do you think my answer was? What does it matter! You want a better answer? My answer would be: “How would I know? How would you know? What does it matter?” You know something? If you want anything too badly, you’re in big trouble. You know something else? If I were enlightened and you listened to me because I was enlightened, then you’re in big trouble. Are you ready to be brainwashed by someone who’s enlightened? You can be brainwashed by anybody, you know. What does it matter whether someone’s enlightened or not? But see, we want to lean on someone, don’t we? We want to lean on anybody we think has arrived. We love to hear that people have arrived. It gives us hope, doesn’t it? What do you want to hope for? Isn’t that another form of desire? You want to hope for something better than what you have right now, don’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be hoping. But then, you forget that you have it all right now anyway, and you don’t know it. -- Anthony de Mello -
Here's a nice long list for ya.
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jjer94 replied to A way to Actualize's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
I think you're getting confused about what emotions really are. If I were you, I would make the distinction between emotions and feelings. Feelings are bodily sensations that occur during certain activities during the day, usually in reaction to the activity. Emotions are the conversation about that feeling. If you haven't noticed, attaching yourself to emotions leads to suffering. If the conversation in your head is a good one, there will eventually be a bad one to counteract it. If you take emotions too seriously and identify with the thought-stories, you ride the ups and downs and suffer as a consequence. Once you go along this journey long enough, you start to think less (have less emotions) and feel through more. You abide in what's real, the feeling, and forget about the conversation in your head about that feeling. I think that would make life even more enjoyable, would it not? The feeling that accompanies depression is just another feeling, and you can learn to be happy with it just as much as excitement. How awesome is that? Emotions are in the world of duality, feelings are non-dual. "Don't think. Feel!" -- Bruce Lee I can relate to this question because I'm a songwriter myself. The enthusiasm that you get for the idea of contributing is gone, but that's just an emotion. What happens when you write a crappy song or someone dislikes your music or you feel that you're no longer contributing? You suffer. What may start happening now is a general feeling of fulfillment while you're doing it. You're doing it for the sake of doing it. You're not doing it to acquire status or contribution or recognition, what you originally thought was happiness. You're doing it because you are already happy. I write songs not because I want validation as to how good they are. I write them because I like words, wordplay, and how not-knowing can magically lead to a finished product. I like painting a picture through sounds. I like the sound of my acoustic guitar, and I like to see how many different timbres I can get. But even those reasons are made up. Why do anything really? There's no reason other than for the sake of doing it. That's life. Living for the sake of living. It's really liberating once you can fully grok that point. Why anything? Because. The "why" question is a human construct. You'll never find a true answer to a "why" question. You can only speculate. The dream state is nice and cozy for most people. Sure, you may have wet the bed, but you can handle it no problem. But some people just don't like the stench and want out. Maybe we couldn't not leave it behind because our dream slowly became a nightmare. Eventually, everyone will have no choice but to leave the dream state of duality. For most, that happens when the body dissolves. We're just doing it early. Cheers! -
jjer94 replied to fdrakely's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@daramantus Hi Mr. Skeptic, Your responses are perfectly valid. I used to be a skeptic too, so I see where you're coming from. Oftentimes, especially on this forum, when we discuss spirituality, there are lots of logical loopholes, contradictions, paradoxes, and the like. And oftentimes (most of the time, actually...) when we discuss enlightenment, seekers will have their cup full of enlightenment-related beliefs and preach them as though they actually have a grounded experience already of what they're talking about. Some examples are when they believe that the ego does not exist, or that suffering does not exist, or that wrongness is not possible. They may believe it, but they don't actually see it yet. So, to make those claims is pretty much the equivalent of holding a sermon in a church. I'd say that's pretty cultish. The skeptic or philosopher will feel the urge to respond to these seekers and angrily point out their logical contradictions, thinking, Helloooo! Can any of you make sense please? Put away your damn incense and talk to me like a real person! The seeker will respond, Oh, silly skeptic, can't you see that you are awareness, that all is One? Philosopher retorts, I don't see it. All I see is that I'm this body, and I'm stuck here. The world's out there. There is obvious separation. And on and on and on.... Which makes you wonder...what if your skepticism/philosophy is just as cultish as the neo-spirituality? The thing is, once you finally realize Truth, no words can apply anymore. What you finally realize is that all words are lies. Truth is only relative in the realm of words. Yes, no words, statements, arguments, beliefs, and interpretations about the world are absolutely true. "The ego is an illusion," "All is One," "You are awareness," "You are/are not the body," All lies. What I am writing to you right now are lies. And, of course, back on the merry-go-round of the mind, the skeptic may respond, Then what's the point of saying all this if none of it's true? What's the point of communicating? Imagine that I'm in your dream somehow. You're telling me about how these woo-woo people keep spouting out this neo-spirituality and it's driving you crazy. It seems so obvious to you that you have a brain, that you are the body, that the world is made of atoms and is solid, that your arguments have a solid foundation. I say to you, "What if you're all wrong? Look, dude, you're in a dream! Your consciousness is dreaming you and this world up, and you are the entire dream!" Let's say you actually take what I'm saying seriously, and you wake up and open your eyes in bed, simply amazed that your consciousness was able to dream up all that stuff. Do you think any argument, any words in that dream, have any absolute truth whatsoever? No! It was all just wisps of dreamstuff. But I had to use words to snap you out of your cultish stupor! I had to use lies to point you in the direction you needed to go. Let me lay it on you: You are stuck in your mind, in the realm of words and concepts and arguments. Just like the above analogy, these words are just meaningless wisps of dreamstuff. Even skepticism is an argument, because it is the belief that a certain things are false! But what if I told you that you didn't have to believe that certain things are false, that instead you can see for yourself? What if I told you that you don't have to say anything, think anything, know anything, argue for anything, or believe in anything to see that Absolute Truth is? If I was able to create just a little crack of not-knowing in your mind, then I did my job. It will begin to eat up your skepticism, and then maybe, just maybe, you'll be inclined to go look for Truth in your own direct experience instead of perpetually arguing in circles with everyone. -
jjer94 replied to joegarland's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Hi Joe, Before you even consider going to a retreat or holing yourself up in some secluded cabin, you may want to ask yourself why you're separating your life circumstances from enlightenment work. I know Jed's books give lots of examples of seclusion and all that...but what if you can do both life-stuff and enlightenment-stuff at the same time, and in fact doing both at the same time may accelerate the process even more? Sure, have a few days where you do exclusively contemplation/spiritual autolysis/whatever you do that's enlightenment-related. But you can do that anywhere really. You don't have to go to a retreat or some secluded area. You're also putting salvation in the future. You're setting a time table in the future for when you think you'll be enlightened, and by doing that, ego is subtly trying to control the situation. Enlightenment work is done here and now. You really want Truth? You can do the work to figure it out right now regardless of your circumstances. And stop estimating how much time it'll take; it's different for everyone. An awakening can occur within months of learning about enlightenment, but deprogramming can take several years. "Why do you think I blew up your condo? Hitting bottom is not a weekend retreat. It's not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go! Let go!" -- Tyler Durden, Fight Club I can relate to your situation. I recently graduated in December, and for a while last year I was considering doing what you want to do, go run away to some monastery or retreat. But I realized that life itself can be a spiritual practice. Anything that brings up emotional resistance in you is an opportunity to delve further into you psyche. In the beginning of my last semester of school, I was completely and utterly miserable. I could have dropped out and ran away, but instead, I inquired into my resistance and found that I had a subtle air of superiority over my classmates. I would have never figured that out at a retreat. I could go on even more about this topic, but I don't want to overwhelm you. If there's anything you can take away from this post, it's this: Question your belief that you have to be "somewhere else" to do enlightenment work. You are the only authority there could ever be. All of the answers are available to you in your experience right now and no amount of wordy circlejerking will enlighten you. Cheers! --JJ -
jjer94 replied to Natasha's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Knock knock. Who's there? .......... -
jjer94 replied to TruthSeeker's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
That's like saying, just because you haven't found Santa Clause yet doesn't mean he doesn't exist, so you'll keep believing in him. I mean, if you want to keep believing in his existence, go for it. Nothing wrong with that. -
jjer94 replied to ZenDog's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Your happiness right now is circumstantial. You refuse to be happy unless you're enlightened, unless you have a girlfriend, unless you have your dream career, etc. The happiness that the gurus are talking about is the subtle happiness of being, the I AM. It's right there in your experience, silent but full, right beyond the mind's stories, pervading every sense perception. The most difficult part about being happy is that it's too simple! "Being happy is a matter of being happy." - Peter Ralston "Well I’m telling you...you do have a terminal illness. It’s called Birth. You don’t have more then a few years left, no one does, so be happy now with out reason or you never will be at all.” - Socrates, Way of the Peaceful Warrior "A fool is 'happy' when his cravings are satisfied. A warrior is happy without reason. That's what makes happiness the ultimate discipline--above all else I have taught you." - Socrates, Way of the Peaceful Warrior- 16 replies
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jjer94 replied to Vercingetorix's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
There is no "I" or ego to benefit from this. You'll have to give that up. The result is that you will have freed up a lot of space to do whatever the heck you feel moved to do. No more rules on how things should be, no more resistance to what is (or a lot less), just pure authenticity. It's important to come to the conclusion that no belief is true on your own instead of believing me, because otherwise that's just another belief. What you may not realize yet is that you live your life unconsciously to your own secret rulebook, your own sets of should's. And even if you've read up on enlightenment and no-self and ego, that rulebook will still be intact. It is your job to dismantle your own rulebook. That is essentially the pathless path to enlightenment: deconstruction of your beliefs, your should's, your resistances, your fear. -
jjer94 replied to Vercingetorix's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
This is a fantastic point you made, because I can flip it around. When you talk about objective proof for something from scientists, are you talking from experience or is it just what you have been told and you believe it? When you talk about existing as a separate self, are you talking from experience or is it just what you have been told by society and you believe it? How can you trust anything I say, anything ANYONE says, if you can't actually confirm that they are speaking from their own experience? Sure, I can say that I'm speaking from my own experience, but you're not the one inhabiting this body or this perspective. How can you know? And this is what I mean by no belief is true. All scientific theories and interpretations are just that: theories and interpretations. There can never be any sort of objective certainty with any of them. They are only maps that allow us to manipulate reality as we see fit, and most of the time they work. That's how I'm able to communicate with you here online. But just because we know how to manipulate reality doesn't mean we know anything about the substance of reality, what it's made of. Science gets into a lot of trouble this way because they completely leave out the subjective first person, which is the aperture through which they make their so-called objective claims. Let's say you're in a dream, and you're a computer technician. You're telling me how the computer works by opening up the back and showing me all of its components: motherboard, CPU, etc... You tell me that electrons flow through each of these components sending electrical signals, which allow the computer to run. While on a conceptual level, this all makes sense, on the level of reality, it doesn't. What are those electrons actually? They are consciousness. The whole computer is consciousness, but you're taking it to be a solid entity external to you. Without your observing of the computer in the dream, it would cease to exist. Sure, this particular dream may be orderly enough to say that there are certain laws that describe how things work. But they're never set in stone, because it's a freaking dream. They are only descriptions, not explanations. What if the life you're living right now is exactly like this analogy? If you're into writing, I suggest trying out Spiritual Autolysis. I wrote a guide a while back that you can check out here: -
jjer94 replied to Vercingetorix's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Instead of asking whether anything can be objectively proven, you may first want to ask whether there is such thing as objective proof. What makes a proof objective, and where does it come from? This may help: when we talk about enlightenment, we're talking about Absolute Truth. We're talking about something that transcends time, space, and this universe. We're talking about what you are before you were born, what you are right now, and what you are after this body dissolves. How can something that is totally Infinite be encapsulated into a finite, logical objective proof? Evolution is just a theory. Theories are never 100% certain. Forget about evolution if you're pursuing enlightenment. You're also presupposing that consciousness exists within a universe full of atoms and molecules and space. But what if it were the other way around? What if the universe existed within consciousness? As crazy as that sounds, that may just be the case...you don't even need to believe it or have scientific proof for it either. Just look in your direct experience. But that link should help you dispel your ideas about an external universe. To me, it sounds like you're trying to pour yourself a cup a tea when there's already plenty of tea in there. Meditation and mindfulness are great and all, but you have yet to empty your cup. Enlightenment is not something you gain, it just reveals itself when you've removed all of your ideas about how you and reality work. It doesn't come about through progress in a practice; it comes about through seeing through your own illusions. Empty your cup of beliefs is my suggestion. Contemplate anything you think is true, and see if you can figure out why it's false. A newsflash for you: all so-called knowledge is actually belief, and no belief is true. Don't take my word for it; confirm it for yourself. Cheers! -
jjer94 replied to aurum's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Kelley White Shoot! Didn't get a notification when you replied. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. The thing is, when you say, "I am giving up ______", you're still regarding it as important. If you didn't regard it as important, it would be a non-issue; the problem would just resolve itself. But by renouncing yourself, you're trying to brute force your way out of your neuroses, and what often happens is that the problem comes back in full force. Take an overweight person for example. They have the neurotic need to eat junk food all the time. Do you actually think that cutting donuts out of their diet will cure them completely? No, of course not. They would merely be changing their external circumstances, when the problem is internal. They give importance to donuts. Maybe it's because they taste good. Maybe it's because they remind the person of their childhood. Maybe it's to mask another deeper neurosis. Oftentimes what happens when an overweight person tries to eat healthy for a while is that they accidentally start eating junk again and gain twice as much weight. If you haven't seen Leo's new video on fake growth vs. real growth, I suggest you do; it ties exactly into what I'm talking about. So now let's move to you as the example. You're trying to cut your time on Facebook and all these other distractions. But by cutting them out, you're resisting your natural tendencies, and while you may see progress now, it'll only make things worse in the long run. That's just my opinion. A couple years ago I quit video games cold turkey after being an addict for more than a decade, and it was a year later that I picked up the habit again. These neuroses will always come back to bite you in the ass...unless you look inside yourself face them directly. Why are these distractions so important to you? What are you getting out of them? Once you understand that the importance you give to these things are illusory, and you consciously see through it every day, eventually the neuroses will cease on their own. That's what I did with the video games, and my addiction is gone. Let's use another analogy. When a magician does a magic trick for you, you're captivated. You want to see it again and again. It seems like literal magic because you don't know how he does it. But then you decide to sneak up on stage, look under the tablecloth...and there's a trapdoor. Now you know how the magic trick works. Will you still be captivated when he does the trick again? Not likely, because you know how it works. Once you understand how the magic trick works, you won't be so drawn to it. Your addiction to distractions are like magic tricks. All you need to do is look under the tablecloth, see what's going on under the surface, and look for that trapdoor. Then you will no longer be so drawn to them. Are you running away from something by partaking in distractions? Do you secretly believe that you need them to be happy? Are you afraid that you will be worthless if you don't partake in them? All hypothetical questions, gateways to exploring your inner realm. I'm warning you though, looking inward can be painful work. You never know what you'll uncover... All the best, Kelley! -
jjer94 replied to Donald's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Yes, I think that is his main point...but some foolish ones like me decided that meant to just stop your thinking.... Yeah, I get it now, just didn't get it back then. But the way you say 'not to let your mind take over'...It always takes over in your current paradigm. Observe your thinking, as Eckhart says, is a great technique for the journey. But in my opinion, Eckhart's methods of trying to be present is like giving candy to a prisoner. I mean, if the prisoner likes candy, that's cool. But he/she then depends on a constant source of candy to function, to distract themselves from the fact that they are in prison. Why not just break out of prison first, and then you can buy all the candy you want if you still have the desire? Here's another analogy. Trying to be present is like trying to build a new house with the same rickety foundation. Why not just destroy the foundation first and rebuild? What's the prison and what's the foundation? Ego.