hinawashi

The reason I don't join any servers or any multi-channels is because I knew this from the very beginning that there's no chemistry between me and them. It's not because anyone is crazy, but rather incompatible as you said. Nobody is crazy because you follow your logic perfectly and they're following their logic perfectly. I had the same question before but I thought about it for quite a while and I realized that to think yourself or anybody else is crazy is only the ego talking, because the ego likes to separate itself from others by putting labels like "crazy" on either side. In reality these labels don't exist, therefore nobody can be crazy. It's like mixing oil and water. They don't mix but how can you say oil is bad or water is bad? Nither is good or bad. They just exist. People just exist, nobody is crazy, that's all.

@mohdanas I think yours is also a great analogy. It's more of an experimentation, or playing detective. We all want to solve our problems but we don't know where to start. We pick up some clues to begin with, and maybe the first few clues don't lead us anywhere, but as we start to explore more options and hunt down more evidence, we can put all the pieces of puzzle together, then we get to see the big picture. I think the reason most people don't benefit much from self-help books is because they're too result-oriented. Life isn't only about results. The results are important but the pathfinding is also rewarding in itself. I do care about results, but only in retrospect. When I look back I know how much I have accomplished, and it gives me more inspiration to go out there and get more done.

Yes. This is exactly the kind of video I needed. Many thanks! The insight I got out of this was that I was able to put a lot of efforts into it, and maybe I'm at the top 5%? Also what's funny is that I'm able to focus on the process rather than wanting the results right away without much expectations right off the bat. I think the whole self-help process is more or less like an experiment and it's up to me to test everything out and don't overwhelm myself with a whole bunch of books at a time.

Lately I've been reading a lot of self-help books, and a lot of them were eye-opening and they really made me think. Not just while I'm reading them, but rather whenever I come across something in life words from those books just jump out in my mind and I can see things from a totally different perspective. However at the same time I was thinking to myself whether these self-help books are that useful. Because I know a lot of them are best-sellers, however I don't really hear how people talk about how these books made them grow. I don't know what's going on. Do those people just read the books and then forget about them? Or is it because they were unable to make connections with real-life scenarios? Same with Leo's videos, of course. If they have half a million views then why aren't more people talking about how their lives were transformed?

I've been thinking about this for a very long time now, because this is something that I haven't been able to understand. We're always worshipping something. There are religion, and different gods and people have been worshipping them for millennia since prehistoric times. Today, even when we live in a materialistic culture, we still worship money like a god. So it's quite funny that we claim that there is no god but we still treat money as a god. So we still have to worship something. Even the most grandiose people who have the most power worship their own self-image as a god. At the end of the day, we really have to worship something or another. Why is it so? What is the reason to worship anything? Is it because deep inside we know that we're no good? Like, we can't do anything on our own? I don't really understand it so perhaps one of you peoples can help me answer this question.

@Spiral That's some really good advice. I realized that I missed Leo's video on karma, so I went and watched it and it was exactly as you said. Also, Compassion does come at a much later age. I'm not a teenager anymore, but it's this sudden transition that's making it hard for me right now.

OK, so this is one of the top items on my hit list of behavior and thoughts I need to eliminate from my life. Every time I think that someone has wronged me, I always feel the need to plot my revenge against them. But then I realized that even if I'm in the right in the first place, if I actually carry through with my revenge, then I'd be committing the greater evil. So this has caused a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering in my life simply because this is such a big internal struggle that goes inside my mind all the time, and also because I have done some really nasty things in the past and now I look back at it, I'm not really the hero but a replacement villain who's even more evil than the villain I thought I was fighting. So... Any tips on ending this cycle once and for all?

OK, so from what I understand from a non-dual perspective, the statements "you don't exist" and "you are everything" is actually the exact same. Of course, like @Shin said, I didn't get to that understanding through thought or concepts or logic. This is something that you really have to experience in order to understand. I mean I could tell you about it, and Leo can tell you much more, but fundamentally whoever is speaking of enlightenment and non-duality is just a messenger, someone who has a copy of a treasure map. You have to first believe that the piece of treasure exists, and also that the treasure is worth spending time and effort and possible risking your life and limb to acquire. Then you have to actually go out and dig up that piece of treasure. Of course when I say go out I really mean go inside yourself because, hey, this is all a mind trick. So don't dismiss thought as unimportant, I mean technically you don't have to have the treasure map, but getting that map makes the job much easier. All we're saying here is don't mistake the map for the treasure. That's a very easy trap to fall into.

So, my guess is that the ego must destroy everything in order to survive. Ego doesn't necessarily harm us, it's just very transient and inevitably doomed to destruction. According to the spiral dynamics model, at some point the ego will sort of "disappear", but then the stage after that will introduce an upgraded version of ego that can coexist with enlightenment. That is, you can still do what the ego does, but now you are no longer the slave to it. It sounds kinda far, but it might be just around the corner for those who are actively doing enlightenment work.

Waking up in the middle of the night from this epiphany. I was doing some introspection and trying to understand how the ego operates, and all of my observations point to this: The ego corrupts everything it touches. I mean literally everything that you and I can think of. We try to combat the ego through religion, yet the ego turns religion into idol-worshipping. Art gets corrupted by ego too, as the ego turns art from creation and expression into a tool to satisfy our desires. Ego also corrupts reality by turning nature into a playground for the ego, and twists our senses into judging everything by its "usefulness" to us. It taints happiness and tricks us into chasing external things that will never fulfill us. The question is why? Isn't the ego there to help us survive? How can it end up enslaving us and harming us instead? I think I'm over-thinking to the point that it's messing with my sleep. I should be going back to sleep now. I'll check for responses in the morning and see if there's anyone who can answer my questions.

@Joseph Maynor Thanks for the great advice! Yeah, I really should put openness to the test. The reason I could grow so fast is to live out all the knowledge I have absorbed. I mean that's actually the reason there's just so much stuff I could write on and ideas are just swirling around my head because by putting all the knowledge into my life makes them feel very real and personal. I think the same goes with openness too, I can only get it nailed by practicing it. So the conclusion is, I'm gonna publish more of them in my blog, and we'll see where it will take me...

@Joseph Maynor Yes. Fear has always been my greatest enemy. Though, I don't fear the writing itself, in fact I'm completely comfortable with everything I've written so far. What I am afraid of is people judging me. Well, it's not like I'm fearing that it will happen in the future, it's more of a certainty because it has already happened with my past writings, and I certainly don't like that. People tell me that I'm crazy and think too much, and I should stop thinking and stop writing and go with the flock and do what the flock does. Especially when what I write goes against common sense, I get ridiculed a lot. Nothing malicious though, it's just kind of... normal... from normal people, I guess?

I keep a self-actualization journal mainly for myself, and for the most part it's bits and pieces of useful information and knowledge that I have accumulated from both outside sources and introspection. These journals are basically my own understandings of everything related to self-actualization like happiness and life purpose. My journal has always been how I kept track of my own growth and it's a live journal that's constantly being updated as I learn more things, so right now it's growing pretty fast. Also I think that keeping a journal is a great help, because it's like a library of ideas but since they're already my understandings, all I have to do is pull it out at the right place and right time and I'm all good to go. Now the problem is, I've been trying to compile them into longer and more coherent articles so I could publish it as a blog of some sort. I've written a few of them already and the reactions were mixed, with the majority of readers completely unable to understand any of it. I'm having the feeling that people are starting to think I'm going nuts over all this self-actualization work, even though I'm hoping that it might actually end up transforming someone, like how I transformed in the first place. By no means I'm trying to convince people though, because as I said, it mainly serves as a reminder for myself to stay conscious, but if someone can understand and resonate with me that would be a nice bonus. So should I publish more of my journal? Or should I just keep it all to myself?

@Nahm Thanks a lot! I got it now. So basically how I convey the truth is just as important as the content. I went over to Wikipedia and looked up the difference between guilt and shame and that was exactly it. You just worded it differently and made it easier for me to understand. @SOUL That's exactly what I said before, I should stop being the judge and just be at peace with everything. Also when I was reading all the replies, something clicked in my head. I suddenly realized that actually everyone deserves the truth, and I stood correct that I really am no different from anyone else in terms of "deserving" anything. Deserving the truth and willing to accept the truth are two totally different things! It's just like how everyone deserves happiness, and the reason most people are miserable is because they are unwilling to accept happiness.

@Nahm I just gave an example. If I tell someone who's a victim to stop blaming others and take responsibility for everything, that would like pouring salt on their wounds. @Spiral and I agree that I should stop judging who deserves what. Hmm... I guess I'll just have to keep everything to myself for now.