SOUL

You say self help is worthless and that all you need to know is you will learn it your self so it's no wonder you don't change but you aren't even aware of it because you are distracted by your addiction.......

There are people who believe their delusions are the truth and want to convince you to believe their beliefs are the truth, too.

Stop asking and starting being..... it really is this simple. Do wild animals self inquire? Does your pet ask who they are? No, they just be..... so just be. Being aware doesn't require knowing 'who'..... we are a human being not a who-man being!

A sage isn't one until observed as being.... one.

Very.

The ego may die...naturally and that is of it's own evolution but one who is just being in acceptance of what is, is not one that wants to commit egocide. Besides, the point was that even if the ego dies....there is nothing left to remember it or teach it, so those that suggest they do remember or teach it, haven't really experienced it.

Yes, but for the sake of the metaphor there was an illumination of distinctions, so are you aware that if you really didn't want to draw any distinctions, why did you use one at all?

I will consider what kind of pie.... mmmmmmmmm pie.

Start with inner work, cease to see them there first and that pattern will manifest throughout consciousness. Some people will even create rank, hierarchies and authorities within themselves, ego of one rank and awareness on another, the physical, emotional and physical may be viewed with separation and levels of importance. They will see the authority of truth endowed by or coming from one part of themselves with another part dismissed as a false illusion of deception. If you see it in yourself, even within your own consciousness and inner perception there isn't much that can be done to avoid the perception on the outside. It's an inevitable expression of the inner view so cease to perceive it in consciousness and it will manifest that way in every other observation.

I agree...it's either, or, neither, nor, both, all and none of the above.....

There could be countless "reasons" to carry on but there's no guarantee you will find any of them plausible or logical to you, that doesn't mean there isn't and they aren't, just not for you. They don't even have to be reasoned by logic, they can be emotional, physical or spiritual reasons or any combination of them all. Maybe even no reason at all, just being for the enjoyment and fulfillment of being in well being. One can "make life worth living" just as much as one can 'make life not worth living', neither of the two are a default absolute that is a 'truth' for everyone and no, it doesn't speak negatively as to the state of life, it's how you interpret that from it and choose to agree with that interpretation so view it that way. Again your personal opinion is not the default absolute ad universal truth, it's your default personal truth you absolutely project onto the universe.....and apparently aren't even aware of it. Actually death requires something, there are conditions that are required for biological death to occur just as there are conditions for biological life to occur or biological life to persist. Even the perception of one doing "nothing" to keep oneself alive is actually doing something to bring about those conditions that allows for biological life to cease so bring on biological death. Are you starting to see your own conditioned bias yet? A life well lived is it's own reward, what more are you seeking than just to have a sense of well being in life? You expecting a participation trophy? Maybe a cookie... you want a cookie? That sense of well being, the fulfillment, joy and peace in it is such a precious thing, if you had it at all you wouldn't be questioning it and you surely wouldn't be attempting to distract others from it. There are people in this world who are genuinely struggling with this dilemma about life, I find your posting here disingenuous using such a tragic situation as a means to a philosophical debate so be "right" online and appease your ego as quite insensitive... but that is just my opinion.

@Mighty Mouse I'm honored that you would allow me to be a mirror for you and may the reflection you see be healing.

There are many different reasons and ways that people will seek feedback from others, it seems you have already responded here that it's about being "right". I would encourage you to observe your 'self' in your own mind's eye at the time that this particular "need" manifests in you, be aware of the thoughts, those ideas, motivations, feelings, memories, dialog and whatever else is appearing in you that is associated with this "need" in the moment it transpires. There is no one size fits all step by step advice or method to address it because each of us is unique and every situation is different, the potential variations are infinite. So this is why I suggest observing your 'self' and be aware of everything that is associated with it, the resolution usually presents itself in the manner it's manifests in us if we attune our awareness to what that is.

You so be live & so be it.

This "entirely subjective" experience you speak of is the very element you are ignoring and dismissing in asserting the "beauty of life" being absent is actually what transcends any or all of anything and everything to create it for each of us. Your personal truth and belief paradigm which limits your own potential to be fulfilled and enjoy life in your own mind does not actually limit the potential of others to be fulfilled and enjoy life in real life, your belief limits just your own.. but not others... at all...

@star ark This is why our underpants may appear to be missing and some can perpetually be searching for them.. The more specific and complicated the teaching the less likely it will apply to each of us because the lesson for every individual is as infinitely divergent as the unfulfilled potential of perception itself. ------------------------------------- Why do you believe this and make it so? This is belief.... all of it. Belief is a tool... ...for enlightening or endarkening... ...for awakening or enslumbering... ...for liberation or enslavement... ...for creation or destruction... ...or both....and or neither... ...infinitely...and absolutely. So be it

I find that "better" is a conditional term that doesn't lend itself to universal interpretation.

Opinions you agree with = honest Opinions you don't agree with = dishonest So transparent...

@Mighty Mouse You delude yourself into thinking your beliefs are facts, that much is obvious. Not to mention the OP thrashes around in this thread demanding proof and that it doesn't matter showing how much it really does matter to them yet without evidence to support their opinion.

That dystopian nihilistic paradigm you think you see all that life as is merely your own personal truth and is not "absolute truth", don't delude yourself into believing you have any special insight but it appears you may already be steeped in it. Just because you have bought into a nihilistic belief system so view your own life through the prism of it doesn't make it the truth for everyone, it's just yours and you foisting this belief system onto others is just you unable to emotionally and/or intellectually deal with your own personal truth. I live my life the way I see fit as you do yours but keep in mind if you choose to inflict abuse on another person it's not just an abstract argument of philosophy or merely a belief, it's being abusive.

So now you are going to tell me what I don't have to or need to do? Well, my friend, what you say about it and your "insight" is no truth in my life in the least, I can view my own experience any way I see fit.... that is the point! You saying there is no point, no need or anything you want about it isn't any absolute truth or more right or accurate or anything other than your view of your life.... not mine about my life. You questioning my choice for my own life is merely the fruit of your own misery and suffering but I don't have to endure it, that's on you. I choose to live a fulfilled and joyful life while I am alive in any way I see fit for my own experience, you can do whatever you see fit for your own life but your "insight" is useless to me. Your nihilistic dystopia is of your own creating, it doesn't belong to anyone but you.

The point of this life for me is to live a fulfilled and joyful life..... ending it makes that more difficult. So, I'm not sure what "insight" you think you had but it doesn't appear even remotely relevant for my own experience, I may need more insight into the "insight" you claim to have had.

@alyra Awareness observes, although through our intentional life we create experience like the painter that paints, self conscious collects the experience as a canvas collects the paint, identity is merely the expression of that experience as a painting is the expression of the artist. So we can make our life an intentional masterpiece of joy and fulfillment or it can be an accidental and random expression of misery and suffering. If the ego really does die in the consciousness, there would be no memory of it happening, it wouldn't be told and there would be nothing to teach. So if someone does speak of it and teach it to others, it hasn't happened for them but it's just another story to tell they heard from someone else that they believe with no experience of it themselves.

It's really very simple and I could explain how simple it is though people prefer to complicate it so won't embrace the simple. Instead they seek out the complicated, once one decides to search for the simplicity it will be found.

Ego creates an identity from our experience, this identity can be as separate or unified as we allow it to be and we intend it to be. If we cease to believe in the identity the ego has created previously and instead identify with another that may be altogether different than what was identified with before it is through our 'belief' that this agreement with the identity happens. Even identifying with an infinite absolute nothingness saying we don't exist and calling everything else in life an illusion, a deception and false is done through belief. The ego will eventually identify with whatever we believe in no matter the idea or concept by calling it 'truth' and call everything it's doesn't as 'false' to justify the identification. In experience we can transcend it all through awareness but as long as we have a body that possesses a brain which produces mind the ego collects that experience into identity....even if it is one of awareness transcending it all.