Jacobsrw

@mathieu thank you! Not as such. I base most of my art inspiration from photography and combing images together in a creative way. I do however, find William Blake and Salvador Dali extremely inspiring. But most of what I draw is self-generated concepts. @DrewNows thank you! That’s some good insight. I do enjoy similar things to what you mentioned. Especially higher order existential concepts. I was writing up a list previously but I found it hard to remember what I meant by some of the ideas I wrote coming back to it later haha. I’ll be sure to look at doing it better in the future though. @Preety_India thank you! @DefinitelyNotARobot that’s beautifully worded! I really resonate with what you wrote, also I do my best to operate in this way with much of life. Yet when it comes to art, perfectionism takes over and I feel the need to have art be presented in an accurate way. I find this very disruptive to the “flow” state. It contorts my fluid ability to create. This might have to do with the fact I draw realism which works to imitate “real world” appearances. I might just try sitting with a blank piece paper with no ideas and see what happens when I meet it with a pencil. Reminds me of Peter Ralstons ‘Empty Your Cup’ exercise. Thanks man! @Moon thank you!

@StarStruck I journal every day and approach it varyingly. In the morning a journal in response to a question and night I journal as a reflective analysis of my day. For morning journal entries, ask yourself direct, specific questions. I use to call this “Question of the Day”. This is where I would state a question and respond to it in following. Eg. What do I fear? What continues to be my biggest sticking point? For the evening, reflect on the events of your day and your responses to them. What behaviours did you enact? What were the main feelings you had. What were your prevailing mind patterns. Write these down. You will find much value in doing this. Since most of it becomes forgotten quickly and never considered again. Ensure you are consistent, this is important. I recommend doing it daily. Use a journal as record keeping it will much more accurately record your developments and changes than purely your own mind.

@Mada_ thank you for your response! Very fruitful. I actually reflect and contemplate every day which I find extremely helpful. I’ve found my ability in the past to transfer ideas from my mind to paper very fluid and natural. However, since spending a lot of my time within consciousness work, it seems harder to visualise and transpose. Mainly because I want to ensure what I visualise and create isn’t just what appears aesthetically pleasing but more so deep, meaningful and enlightening. This is much harder to do apparently haha. @ajasatya @Cykaaaa thank you both! Much appreciated ?

Pen portrait of the Dalai Lama

In progress from this year.

One from last year

@Someone here Exactly right. Epistemically speaking, for what you know to be known you must first enter the state of “not knowing” to know it. We don’t ever step outside of our perceptual experience because it was never real to begin with. Just like the mirage of water in the desert. There’s the illusion it exists but it turns out to be just the desert itself. Just like our human experience. It feels like we exist as a human body-mind but it turns out it was just consciousness itself.

@Oliver Saavedra very accurate!

@Leo Gura Haha oh no....He seems to fumble quite a bit. Sprouting ideas he has no sense in knowing. Credit to him for admitting in saying he didn’t really know. Its fascinating that scientists insist on using the mind to try understand things beyond the mind, simultaneously not acknowledging how this is impossible. @Someone here you undermine the fundamental nature of consciousness. Your proposition is equivalent to asking if a rock could become conscious of being rock and identify as a human. It’s not really even a question to entertain. Anything you propose is made of consciousness. You’re using consciousness to try and step outside of consciousness by pointing “hey look over here” when “over here” is no different to where you already stand. Consciousness is not a suggestive possibility it’s fundamental and inescapable.

@Preetom Nice formulations here, except I would claim that the dream state is but the waking state. All that the waking state is founded upon is a hulicinatory dream of mind. All that is “waking” is synonymous with “dreaming” (non-duality). There is no difference between them except that waking appears as a different level of dreaming due to its apparent solidity. If anything, there exist only relative levels of dreaming, all of which rest in a nondual state which waking is a part of.

@RoyThese are very good points. Although I would add that acting goes beyond merely just the entertainment industry but the acting in everything we do. We play a different role in almost every facet of life. In fact, the entirety of human life is one big act. Human life is exhibited through the delusion of infinite roles. Thats the point of spirituality, to dissolve the attachment to acting. The ego is imparted by acting. It’s central existence can only come through the acting of roles. No ego, means no acting. Acting is useful when you are involved in a play, but once the play is finished so too must the actor playing it.

She knows the theory, the question is: is she internally established? One can only approximate and speculate. Ive been following her for a short while and would indeed say her content is far more conducive than that of typical delusional entertainment and media propaganda. However, appearances can be deceiving and most importantly I would suggest that the delivery of these messages necessitate careful consumption as they may become more tantalising than beneficial.

Haha too true. @Dazgwny precisely.

I found this dialogue pretty hysterical for characterising the novice minds conception of enlightenment

@Nahm you are superimposing objectivity from subjectivity. In fact, you are suggesting objectivity can exist from a thought that stems out of a subjective lens. There is no objective reality because separateness is an illusion. As soon as you assert objectivity you assert subjectivity. Because objectivity can exist in opposite from a subject outside of it, in other words, a duality. This all an illusion. There is existence with all its intermediate subsets and that’s it. All expressions of the same existence. There is no seperate subjective/objective to delineate between. You are indirectly creating a duality. All there is is consciousness, which is you.

*humans* let’s find any means caress our ego. “Oh look there’s a new app TikTok!” “Let us use it to have endless entertainment”. *becomes more deluded than ever before*.

@Nahm my experience is not synonymous with your statement. Good and bad can only exist in the conception of mind. This dissolves at the level of consciousness. Ultimately, all is divine neutrality, superseding any dualistic conceptions. Simple.

@James123 exactly. Good and bad are two sides of the very same coin. To know good one must simultaneously know bad. Otherwise, what is the point of reference from which you are assuming the other? Both are illusions, ultimately. @Inliytened1 thank you ?

@Arzack you are superimposing duality. From the perspective of a finite self, there exists a polarity of good and bad. From the ultimate perspective, this is an illusion. To believe in the illusion is to live through illusion.

@Arzack haha trust me I am well informed. I not long ago had a mystical experience which shone light on some of the existential depths of suffering. My comment was not referring to “feel good spirituality” but rather the fundamental infinitude of all things. All things are immensely profound. Whether how painful or comforting they are. That is the beauty of life, to experience all the infinite film reels of reality. How one interprets this is up to them. To me, it is all utterly astounding. But I would recommend in being careful you don’t head down a path of “nihilistic spirituality”. Which many on this forum appear to subliminally subscribe. You just may discover that the duality you held of “doom and gloom” and “all roses” was nothing more than a fictitious illusion.

@Someone here Yes. This is easy to see. Is the same body you have now the same as you had yesterday, last year or when you were 15? The body consists of cells which die and rebirth every day. Is the thought you are having now the same as the one that occurred before it, yesterday or one you were so worried about 2 years ago? Of course not. Thoughts change every instant, that is their very nature. The only continuum of experience is your awareness of experience.

@Arzack and isn’t it just ineffably beautiful ?

@Arzack agreed. However, consciousness requires no refinement as it already pristine and immaculate. The knower who operates from it is whom requires refinement. This is the sole duty of spirituality as you stated

@Someone here Of course there is an undeniable experience. The question is: from where does it stem? One cannot assume the body or mind, since they are ever fluctuating changes of experience. The only persisting aspect of experience is the awareness from which you operate. That is all that maintains the experience you have. All else is relative subjectivity. Meaning, ones assumption of the world is nothing more than an ever-changing illusory lens. This is my view of course.