DocHoliday

@Shin Yes, now you start to understand where I was going with that post, that’s right.?

@Shin It’s not about aggressiveness or dominance, not really. Those are also traits I’d personally stay away from because they have a hostile and fragmenting characteristic to them. It’s about intensity in your Being, that’s very different from being aggressive. And yes, it is actually intensity that comes out of stillness, they both go together as Sadhguru pointed out. That’s why the balance of both is more important than many people think because it seems to me that many only ever focus on being still and calm but refrain interactions that cause them emotional turmoil or distress, such as shadow-work for example, but will give you some of the best integration and implementation of other practices practiced possible. So my whole point is essentially that “spiritual people” never actually put their spirituality to the test - they are unfamiliar with occasions or circumstances where shit really hits the fan, because for many people that’s the point when all of their “spiritual attainments” fly out of the window and are useless to them. In other words: The eye of the storm remains calm but to get there, first you have to move through the storm.

MORE INTENSITY!!!

Whose ethics and whose morality is it that you're acting by? Of course it's not wrong if you don't think it is and of course it's wrong if you feel like it is.

@Joseph Maynor That's a good point Joseph, we really should drop the roles we play, yet it's surely just a stepping stone to discover that we're free to take on any role we want to:)

@Shin Are you sure about the fact that being a dick will not, under no circumstances, ever push some people a little bit further on their journey? I'm not being absolutely serious here as you could have told by the way my post was written, even though it's hard sometimes to get that (non-seriousness) across properly. EDIT: Sometimes I just feel like people need to be kicked in the ass a bit, so that's what I decided to do.

Enlightenment can make pretty much everything about sex even more intense and flat-out better because it becomes even more intimate. And no, enlightenment doesn't necessarily diminish your sex drive, it ehances it more often than not because you feel more drawn to others instantly because there are no more boundaries. But even when you get no sex, you're still fine, since you're not chasing after anything anymore (although this doesn't correlate with enlightenment esentially). People have to start seeing enlightenment for what it really is. Enlightenment won't change your entire life over night and it won't affect it directly in any way - only the implementation of it does.

@pluto There's just many perspectives on the same subject that make it look so complicated and twisted at times since everybody tries to explain it in a differnt way, even though it can obviously not really be explained that well through language. But you sure do have a point that there's really not that much to enlightenment as a whole and that it's essentially just a fancy name for something that couldn't be more simple. In reagrds to that "divine timing", it's fascinating just how true it is. The universe will not inherently present one with something that he is not ready for, as you stated it, even when it appears to be "harmful" or "bad" but it will always give what's necessary. This might not always be what one wants, but yeah...with enough maturity and time that's passed, we are able to perceive it that way.

@Nahm Thanks too. The harsher it (subjectively) comes across the truer it probably is That's why I like it rough, I guess...

The degree to which one can be perfectly honest and therefore, authentic, is directly correlating to what he hangs on to and is afraid to lose. The preservation of oneself and the capability to be honest are opposing factors.

@Fountainbleu In that regard, I’d probably suggest to you that you could start off with some personal development first - some self-actualisation before you go directly for the big whale of enlightenment. I mean, I wasn’t exactly in the position that you are in right now but prior to enlightenment, I suffered too from depression and a deep identity-uncertainty and was highly insecure about myself, had no self-esteem whatsoever and couldn’t properly interact in social situations. Enlightenment didn’t cure it - the implementation of it did, years later, and it still keeps on going (that’s why enlightenment is an infinitely deep process, you will keep revealing things and growing with your insights until you die). So, don’t pursue enlightenment as “the magic pill or cure” to your issues, start out smaller and be aware that even after enlightenment occurred, the implementation of it is still a lot to “work through” (even though it will kind-of unravel itself anyway if you stay on track)

I can't think of anything (anymore)...

No, of course authenticity and inauthenticity is a valid and still applicabale relative duality. Inauthenticity can be defined as neurotic behaviour or other types of behaviour that hide your true intentions and/or needs and desires. So, deceiving, lying and refusing to acknowledge facts and truths are examples of inauthenticity, therefore, authenticity is the opposite of that, meaning it is being honest and direct about what you want and about what you mean without holding back, as you don't have to protect anything anymore when you're truly being authentic. That's what it is essentially, not needing to hide or white-wash anything is being authentic. Yes you can also say that authenticity = Being, but almost nobody will actually understand what that means if they haven't had the direct experience of it.

@Joseph Maynor Well, first of all I'd define ego as the primary sense of separation - the notion that you're an somehow individual being that is detached and differnt from other beings, especially other human beings. Beyond that, there's surely the relinquishment of control, an active doership and other things as well.

@Ether Yes it is, but don't be so quick to throw this conclusion out there... it is only the absence or end of suffering once you got past the revelations you had. If you can't handle them, you're fucked.

@Joseph Maynor Yes, that's exactly what I meant with the second statement. As long as you want to preserve "yourself", you can neither be authentic nor honest about all the things that would destroy one's self image. EDIT: But when you're ready to give yourself up, or respectively the concept that you have of yourself, then you can be truly authentic. But still, this gives rise to another question (especially for you Joseph): Is character (including personal preferences and likes and dislikes) now equal to ego or are they two different things?

Difficult, to be honest. It pretty much depends on how you will individually react to occurrences of smaller insights and revelations because merely talking about enlightenment on a conceptual level and actually experiencing it - experiencing how everything you ever thought to be true is wrong, the person who you always thought to be isn't even real and, well...that the whole world turns out to be completely turned upside down and inside out...that's very differernt, let me tell you. Some people may find great relief in that, others will be freaked out so much that they're ready to be admitted to a mental institution. In the end it's a "personal" choice. If you really want to become enlightened and find out about so many weird and wonderful things, then you will - on the other hand, in case you're not ready for it, life will also present you that part of it.

@egoless Damn, that's the truth-bomb dropped right there...

@egoless Don't forget about the hot/crazy scale correlation...

For those who are interested in reading, it's only ~4000 words, so it's not a long read.

So, as I'm currently writing on a book, I'd love to get some reviews and/or feedback from some of you who'd like to help me with it. Everybody's help is greatly appreciated, especially from those who generally read a lot of books, self-help and spiritual material in particular. (The Book will mainly focus on spirituality, that's also why I chose this main-thread to post this in.) Some points for evaluation could be: - first of all, do you like what you're reading so far? Yes/No - based on what you have read so far, would you personally like to read more? (is it interesting (to you) and does it make you want to read more) - how would you evaluate the writing style? Is it too informal and should it therefore, be more formal? - does it have a coherent structure? Does what you're reading make sense in a bigger picture - (other things that you have found to be noteworthy) As I will not post the current draft here directly for literally everybody to see and download, I will individually send it to those who are sincerely interested in helping me via PM. It is written in English, so everybody should be able to read it, but in case you're German, you can also contact me and give me fedback in German, as I'm German too. Thanks for reading and helping me out, I greatly appreciate it!

@Ether Good for you then, I guess<3

@Ether I knew you'd say that but you don't yet understand what I mean with that. When you go in the direction of one extreme with enough intensity over a long enough time span, you will find out that it flips. Of course, nothing matters, I've realised that, and therefore, it doesn't matter whether I care or don't care because in the end it's all the same, you see?

@Ether I stopped caring so much that in the end I end up caring about a couple of things every now and then