Joseph Maynor

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Posts posted by Joseph Maynor

  1. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    @Loreena People who are too against concepts, theories, beliefs, and Philosophy are being dogmatic in their own right.  They run the risk of being Stage Blue beings.  The true skeptic holds all beliefs loosely and focuses on Eudaimonia.  Yes, even non-dual beliefs.  Some people don't grasp this yet.  Enlightenment is not the main-course, it's an element in a larger system -- the system of your developing awareness and improved actions.  So, even non-duality comes full circle back to duality and ego. We transcend the ego mentally but not bodily.  And that's as it should be.  That's reality.  Enlightenment is the perspective that makes self-actualization possible.  It's the secret-password for true happiness.  But the result, the main-course as it were -- is YOUR improved little egoic life, is it not?  That's what we're really doing with all this stuff if we take the rose-colored glasses off and take a sober look at things.  I think people really miss the big picture with all this personal development stuff. They get stuck on various ledges up the mountain-side and set up camp and never get to the very tip-top -- which is where you can get a 365 degree view of everything.  Enlightenment is an element of personal development, not the other way around!  This is one of the most recent epiphanies I've had.  So non-duality really does include duality.  Thus, conceptual thinking is necessary and good.  It just has to be INTERPRETED the right way by a human monkey-mind and held loosely.  Guns don't kill people.  And neither do concepts.  Neither does Philosophy.  It's US that is the problem, not concepts, not Philosophy.  The problem is in the rigidity that we want to hold concepts, theories, and beliefs.  And that's a different issue!  A lot of people miss this critical distinction. There is a larger system at work folks -- that system is your improved actual life, not some fantasy enlightened "thought-story" life you might dream about.  Even Eckhart Tolle puts his pants on one leg at a time every morning.  

  3. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    You need to fight bad illusion with good illusion so concepts are necessary for enlightenment theory and practice.  Don't fool yourself.

    The key is that you have to know when to get out of the theory and set yourself free so you can transcend YOUR ego, which is where the rubber meets the road with enlightenment, not further study.

    Has anybody become enlightened without concepts?  I don't think so.  Having a lot of theory will expedite your enlightenment, assuming the theory is good theory.  What would otherwise take 50 years may take 5 weeks.

    So, theory is important.  What is important is to not cling to it tightly.  You gotta learn how to hold theory and beliefs loosely.  That's the ENTIRE problem.  It's not theory, it's how we hold the theory that is wrong.  We wanna cling too hard to theory.  Like a baby clawing for its comforting blanket.

  6. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    @ZenBlue I hear ya.  That's what I need to do now too.  Get my business running smoother.  I'm so glad I have such a strong background in enlightenment now so I can do that without stressing out about it.  You can tell Leo was already experienced with enlightenment before he shot his first video.  All the early videos are just as much about enlightenment as the later ones.  He just got more focused on enlightenment in the later videos.  So, yeah I think Leo was into business, but he was doing it all along while living an enlightened life.  He didn't really change at all, not from a teacher standpoint.  He just got more focused on enlightenment as time went on, but that was presupposed all along it was just not made so explicit in the earlier videos.  All of the videos fit together nicely.  I watched all Leo's videos 3 times, that's how I know.  I'm sure he learned some details, but he knew what he was doing from the giddy-up.  That's the way to start a business.  He had a lot of knowledge to pass on.  A solid value proposition.

  8. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    @Dodo The crazy thing is that this is just happening naturally for me by realizing that all of my beliefs are false.  Not a single belief in my mind has anything to do with reality.  Once I realize this fully, all my perplexities will fall away.  Even all the non-duality theory is false.  The only true fact is that thought-stories are not reality.  And this is confirmed by direct observation.  This doesn't have to be framed as a statement or belief either because it is directly perceived once the nature of thought is inquired a little bit into.  Because we cannot see thought, it is a little bit confusing about what is going on with thought.  Thought is a little bit slick, but with awareness you can grasp its true nature.  The problem with thought is that it makes fantasy appear to be reality.

  9. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    @Hero in progress I agree with everything except these two:

    There is no doer the body moves and functions in the world through the intelligence of The Self only.

     the nature of consciousness is not only formless & infinite but has inherent intelligence. 

    There is no intelligence there.  That's a thought-story.  It is just Nature playing itself out.  Reality has no rhyme or reason.  It just is.  The Self has no distinction, no intelligence.  Intelligence is a human distinction, a monkey-mind projection.  The Self is no monkey.

  10. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    Realize that all your beliefs about reality are false and illusory.  Start to inquire into each and every belief you have about what is real.  This will lead you to realize that the egoic self and the external world are both illusory.  The body-mind is illusory.  All of this is thought-story.  Though-story is never real.  Reality contains thought stories just like a bookstore contains fiction books.  But nobody would ever confuse the fiction books for the non-fiction books.  The mind has you so hooked into its matrix of thoughts.  Enlightenment is finding a loose string and then pulling the old, frayed linen apart by the seams.  What you're left with is everything exactly the way it was before, but without the warped paradigm overlaying the Truth.  The ego wants you to think that warped paradigm is the true paradigm.  That's our problem -- egoic self-deception.

  15. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    @Ramu But even that is a concept.  The true skeptic drops even that conception.  Or he holds it loosely if he does hold it, not like a fact but more like a useful rule of thumb.  This is tricky to do because we want to know, to have a definitive fact, to settle the issue, to be right.  But that's another part of the illusion right there.  Another piece of the problem.

  19. Posted

    @SOUL

    8 minutes ago, SOUL said:

    Ladies and gentleman of the jury, yes, my client raped, tortured and murdered that child which he did it out of love and since he is enlightened it cannot be held against him according to an unawakened morality but you being unenlightened and conditioned cannot understand it. The defense rests.

    *crickets*

    That only resonates with the monkey-mind perspective.  

  23. Posted · Edited by Joseph Maynor

    Here's the thing.  You need a huge amount of theory to become enlightened.  This is the taboo truth that a lot of people do not want to admit.   And you know what, let's stop bullshitting ourselves about this.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the end of this stupid denial.  Why the hell are we perpetuating some anti-theory perspective on enlightenment?  Enlightenment can be explained in a pamphlet.  I've seen it done.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga

    Hare Krishna dancers in Florence.  I saw this when I was there.  Changed my life.

    Florence.  You're crazy not to go there at least once.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence