Joseph Maynor

But isn't this just another belief system? What if being has nothing to do with belief, now what?

@CreamCat It's ironic that you seem to be the one on the criticism tear here. See how this works?

I think Ego is always there. Ego can become mediated by No Ego which happens over the course of a person's life, or not. It all depends. You can look at various people's lives and see that they differ in the admixture they have between Ego and No Ego.

Everybody does this, even people who say they don't. I watch everybody on the Forum do this. This is all we do on here actually. So let's not have unrealistic standards. Every Ego wants to "know the truth" and to benefit from "knowing the truth". One of the things I'm realizing about Enlightenment Work is it encourages a certain kind of wishful thinking where you are encouraged to take seriously things that your Ego will never actually do. I can spot that stuff like a hawk now and it all runs counter to Personal Development Work.

I think a good inquiry that a lot of people half-ass is the inquiry -- "What do I need?"

Haha. That's smart! I've slept in hammocks. That's one of the best experiences.

This has been my best practice since I posted this a year and a half ago!

Why cling to God in the first place?

I actually think this would be interesting. I never really figured out a way to use Kriya Yoga myself. To me meditation is good enough, but I'm open to trying new things.

I went through a stage where I was really keen on the religious words, and I think I've hit the exact opposite point where I don't like the religious words anymore. It's just not necessary plus the Ego clings to it. That's exactly what religion is: a spirituality that a human Ego can cling to.

I've grown so much on here. At the end of the day are you able to come into a new day and live with wisdom, compassion, and self-care that's also pushing your vision (projects) forward? That's success. If you're healthy, that's success. So, you have to have the right mindset towards your life. I think you have to come to realize what's really important for your life. And then further to realize what was important and what's now important. I can tell you this, nothing you accomplish in your life is worth sacrificing your health for. At the end of the day, if you don't have your health you're in big trouble. So, health is #1. Health is more important than success. So, first do your health. And then do more if you want to or if you need to. And what most people don't accept is: most people have very bad health and don't even realize it. Most people haven't even checked their blood pressure in months if not years. Many people get very little exercise and eat the Standard American Diet even if you live abroad -- I've been to foreign countries and the food is not healthy anywhere you go. It's full of salt which raises blood pressure. We've all gotta become vigilant about diet as well as exercise in addition to the other elements of life like work and play etc.

https://shopus.furbo.com/blogs/knowledge/why-does-dog-lick-my-face

Yes. Your Ego-Mind fears reality going against your Ego-Mind's preferences. The flip side of this is joy, which is what the Ego-Mind feels when reality is aligned with your Ego-Mind's preferences -- say you win the lottery or you beat a battle with cancer. Now, all of this stuff is just reality doing what it's doing. But your Ego-Mind has a dog in the fight of reality doing what its doing. To deny this is where people go off into la la land. And your Ego-Mind having preferences about reality is normal, this isn't something to be ashamed of. It's something that has to be mitigated though because reality is not catering to your Ego-Mind. You need to be able to see up underneath your own Ego-Mind so the suffering caused by its clinging doesn't make your life worse than it has to be for you. It's important for you to not cling to the Ego-Mind like a drowning man clinging to a life preserver. But at the same time you don't wanna reject your Ego-Mind or pretend as if it doesn't exist. If your Ego-Mind didn't exist you would be able to chop off one of your own fingers in the same kind of lackadaisical manner that you stepped on a poor snail on your way out of your house this morning.

Your Ego wants solipism because then it never has to take other Egos into consideration. Your Ego also wants to be God for obvious reasons. The problem with these is that this is just the Ego-Mind bullshitting itself.

Me me me, I I I. I am God like I always dreamed of being.

Religion is the Ego-Mind clinging to Metaphysics.

Criticism from the right quarter is useful.

Criticism means (1) someone took the time to try to help you, and it also means that (2) someone actually listened to what you had to say. Criticism is the highest compliment to the extent that it's done with the motive of good faith. But no Ego of course likes criticism. It sets up a fight or flight response. Your Ego seeks to be agreed with.

This is a really good question. Here's a good analogy: Take the DSM which is called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Psychologists. Now, any schlub off the street can buy a DSM and go around diagnosing everybody he wants to. But that's gonna be very different from how a trained Psychologist uses the manual. Spiral Dynamics is no different. There's an old saying that a little bit of knowledge is dangerous. This is true in the case of Spiral Dynamics. But someone who is really solid in Spiral Dynamics realizes that it's just a model that's more or less useful depending on the context -- and it can be abused, misinterpreted, and used to demonize just like any other categorical label or "box" can.

What is is that wants truth?

You can create any idea you fancy.

Nobody meets that standard so here we are.

What is a healthy body? How can I get a healthy body? We act as if we have no idea what a healthy Ego looks like.

Even the question “what is there?” is a question of the Ego-Mind. Being has no need to ask “what is there?” E.g., When you’re watching the sun go down on the beach just being — it’s the Ego-Mind that intrudes “what’s the significance of this?”

But see there’s gotta be an Ego-Mind that makes the truth/dream distinction. Being doesn’t make or cling to distinctions. Egos cling to distinctions. Minds cling to distinctions.