Joseph Maynor
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Posts posted by Joseph Maynor
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4 minutes ago, Nahm said:You guys ever notice, the avatar name we each pick, is subconsciously what we want?
Just like people look like their dogs. You ever notice that?
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9 minutes ago, Patang said:@Joseph Maynor truth, there is only one, truth is consciousness and that is all that there is.
Ok, say it that way. That doesn’t change reality. We don’t wanna get into the weeds of semantics too much here. It doesn’t matter. Consciousness is a conceptualization too. I don’t really like the word ‘consciousness’. It’s a little too much like trading one illusion for another. What is is awareness of reality in the present moment. What that points to.
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The Self is a conceptualization, not reality. It’s like one of those illusion pictures where things appear not as they are. Where an image looks like it’s there but it’s only a projection of the Mind from more mundane phenomenon. That’s the self. Reality exists as it always has; what changes are the thoughts we cling to about reality. We loosen our beliefs. We don’t conceptually know what reality is. Practice not knowing. When it comes to conceptual truth aka belief, it’s best to be agnostic of all of it. Well, it could be like that, but it also could be like this. None of that is existential truth, however, and existential truth don’t tell me nothin’ about no separate sense of self. That’s conceptual truth, not existential truth. And conceptual truth can only really point to existential truth, it can’t be existential truth. Now, some conceptual truth resonates better with existential truth than others, but there’s still a key qualitative difference there.
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That's a tough call. Test to see whether it's egoic resistance or whether it's just that you authentically don't want to do it. Probably the best test for the latter is to see if it's serving any of your higher purpose values. If it is and you still have a block, then it's probably an egoic block like fear or a limiting belief.
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58 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:McBuddha
God help us.
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On 1/28/2018 at 1:21 PM, Joseph Maynor said:There's an intellectual component to consciousness too. There's experiential awareness and then there's cognitive awareness. And actually both of these are happening simultaneously. Being conscious means that you have a huge shore of reference, that you are studied as much as you are aware of the present moment experientially. We don't talk about this much and nobody ever seems to explain this right. They just want to focus on experiential awareness. Well, a baby has experiential awareness, but that doesn't make the baby very aware, if that makes sense. What the baby is missing is cognitive awareness. You need both to be conscious -- experiential awareness and cognitive awareness. And cognitive awareness uses concepts, thoughts, the Mind. So, don't dump your intellectual life in this work so fast.
By the way I no longer accept this view. This was before my recent enlightenment experience which happened like a day after I posted this. This is rubbish.
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Where do questions come from? Whose questions are they? Whose answers are they? How do the answers compare to truth?
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The idea that you have control over reality is an illusion. When you become Enlightened, you give up all attempts to control and just become aware of life living life.
Watch:
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1 hour ago, egoless said:What is the source of consciousness? People usually ask where did god come from? Why same question is not applicable to consciousness? Yes we can know our nature as consciousness. Yes maybe everything is appearing in it. But since consciousness can be considered as the god where did it come from then? Is not it more logical that even consciousness would not exist? Why anything even exists? Don't tell me the consciousness is nothing. It is definitely something since we are all here...
This is all mental masturbation. What is true? There's awareness and what is happening.
Watch:
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You got people at all stages of development on here. We must be tolerant and try to assist people where they are. And remember, all students are also teachers in this work. It is the Ego that's always playing the role of the teacher. Some people cling to that identity. That's a trap. Sure, you can cling to it loosely, but if you cling to that strongly, that's gonna make you tone-deaf in a lot of ways. What you are trying to do is see something that's already there but that the Mind is not ready to accept, because the Mind wants to look somewhere else for truth. So, it's the Mind that realizes that beliefs are not the truth. Once you get that, that's where you'll get your big crack. But you can't force that. You can't force a plant to grow by pulling on it. But make sure you're doing the work. It takes a lot of work. You're not gonna get the shift without doing the work. There is no simplified or easy path. At least there wasn't for me. It's not Leo's job to spoon-feed us. You need to dive in and figure things out for yourself. Enlightenment is about discovering your authentic-self. So, this is a seeking mission for you. The whole point of Enlightenment is the stopping of grasping. This is called Enlightened Detachment. Reality always shows you the truth.
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When you're alone it's a lot easier to be aware. People can be distracting. I am 100% at peace just being alone.
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ON PERCEIVED ADDICTIONS -- JUST BE MINDFUL, DON'T BE IDEOLOGICAL
Addictions are conceptualizations and conceptualizations are not real. If you watch your addictions while you're engaging in them, that's still Mindfulness and still good work. Have faith that Mindfulness will auto-correct your life and find the right balance for you. Have a mindset that breathes about this. A little addiction is fine, so long as it isn't interfering with what the higher-self wants to do too much. But if you maintain Mindfulness, this balance will get calibrated right for you. Be flexible, accept reality, and maintain awareness. Even if you're drunk, maintain awareness. Don't be too puritanical. What matters is Mindfulness and clarity of mind. This is why booze is not a great idea most of the time because it screws up Mindfulness. But having a policy against drinking can cause some repression, so beware of rigid rules. Awareness alone is curative. Stop being ideological about addictions. That's an attempt to control reality. Let life live life. Just maintain keen-awareness. Stop creating limiting beliefs about perceived addictions. They're only causing you useless suffering. You're being ideological and Reality is not ideological. Judgment about addictions are conceptualizations laid up on top of reality. Like the scribbling on the glass covering the Mona Lisa that I discussed before. That's what your monkey-chatter is about addictions. You gotta stop judging reality so much. Accept reality and just be Aware of it.
Video on point to watch:
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On 1/30/2018 at 3:26 AM, Leo Gura said:The biggest irony is that science is subjective whereas spirituality is objective.
Bingo! Science is a tool not the truth. Science is more accurately Natural Philosophy, as it used to be known as. Scientists are theorists about reality and about truth. They are totally bought into the paradigm of conceptual truth. Scientists are philosophers. They are totally beholden to beliefs. And that's fine as long as you don't bring that shit home with you. It's like a lawyer bring the lawyer home to the wife. Not good. Leave that at work. Put the tool back into the toolbox when you no longer need it. The problem is people equate Science with Knowledge. This issue is addressed in Philosophy, ironically, and not in Science. People are very confused about beliefs. You can go Meta on beliefs though and kind of look under the hood of what's going on there by practicing Mindfulness. You can get out of the nest of beliefs and then look at the nest as a whole. That's possible. That's called going Meta or Awareness or Atman.
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I don't see why a Scientist could not also be Enlightened. They would be watching themselves play the Science game. There's much worse ways to make a living, I can tell you. Scientists are just explicit theorists. Most people keep their ideas to themselves. Science tries to shove theirs down everyone's throat. They attempt to do this by proving their hypotheses. That's the only difference. But we are all dogmatists. At least Scientists are basing their beliefs on testability -- much of the time. But Scientists are theorists about reality and about the truth. Science could be thought of as Natural Philosophy, which it used to be. I believe Physics was still called Natural Philosophy in Isaac Newton's day if my memory serves me well.
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Stop clinging to that Ego. That's takes a lot of work to get to though. But that's the answer. The Ego is what makes you sensitive.
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43 minutes ago, egoless said:In your direct experience do you have this knowledge? Theories are useless here. Why does consciousness exist in whatever form it exists. Why there is even manifestation (hallucination) happening in it? Where did consciousness come from? Is not there a similar question with the “where did god come from”?
This is trying to encapsulate reality in a thought. Ain’t never gonna happen. People have tried to do this from the beginning of time to today. Brahman is that which concepts exist within, to use a metaphor. Trying to fit Brahman under a concept is like trying to fit water into a net. Just be ok with reality being reality. Be mindful of what’s here. You should have little need for questions after that point. All thought-stories are laid on top of reality — like scribbling all over the glass that covers the Mona Lisa. The painting underneath is unmarred, but the obsever’s view is left muddied up. That’s what thought-stories do to reality. Let those go and just admire the painting underneath the glass for what it is. Don’t try to fit it under categories. Treat reality like this. Those scribbles on the glass are irrelevant to the reality that lies up underneath. All they do is block your clear view of reality. And that’s no good.
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2 hours ago, Mighty Mouse said:Any number of things. Even the most highly developed individuals are usually still very deluded from the standpoint of absolute truth. Not necessarily in a bad way.
Absolute truth is by far the most radical possible thing, and it's very easy to stick with something not quite so radical. Either by intent or by mistake.
In the end growth and truth are very different. Enlightenment requires some development but nothing olympian. Becoming enlightened is not the same as becoming highly developed, and neither of them is required for the other.
Once you become Enlightened you’ll watch yourself develop yourself. Enlightenment doesn’t change reality. Reality will be whatever it is without your illusion of control. There’s a difference between Egoic detachment and Enlightened detachment. Egoic detachment is what causes your life to decay. Enlightened detachment is just stepping back and letting life live in whatever way life lives. Of course you have no control over any of this. That’s the bitter pill no one wants to accept — you have no control. That control that you think you have is a total illusion. Those who accept this will have a different ride through this life than those who do not. You will do whatever happens in this life — successful or otherwise. But beware of Egoic detachment — that’s a trap and assumes you have control. Get out of life’s way and let life live life. The Ego is like the worst backseat driver ever. Totally useless and irrelevant. Just watch the Ego but don’t identify with it as ME. You are Brahman, Reality. All you gotta go is be Aware in the moment — that’s Atman. And Atman = Brahman. Brahman = Atman. Maya is clinging to Belief. Pick up beliefs when they’re useful, but put them back when they’re not useful. The mechanic doesn’t have all of his tools under the car when he’s working. He has the tools he needs, and after they’ve served their use, they go back into the toolbox. After the job, he’s not gonna be carrying those tools around with him. He picks up a tool when it’s useful and puts it back after it’s served it’s purpose. We need to treat beliefs like this. Beliefs are tools not truths.
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Here’s a good question for contemplation: to what extent are my morals MY morals.
in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor
I also notice that couples tend to resemble each other. Like they’ll both have a similar flaw, maybe a weird nose or mouth or something. That’s probably why they jive because they feel comfortable with each other because they both share the same or similar “flaw”. Kinda similar to the dog example. We’re Looking to accept ourself by loving ourself. So, we love others that appear like us so that we may learn to love and accept ourselves. This is why we are attracted to people that have our shadow traits. The shadow is driven to re-integrate and to be loved and accepted. This is the fuel for life, the fuel for our journeys — self-acceptance and acceptance of reality. This is what is causing the flow of life, the current of growth, the sense of needing to arrive someplace. We are driven to rid ourselves of inauthenticity. That’s really what growth is.