peanutspathtotruth

Exactly It's well worth

That's so beautiful! Really inspiring me to get on that road as well.

@purerogue You literally can't make your mind up about that. I'm as confused as you but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. The only way is in and finding out for oneself.

I'm a little confused in finding a nice balance between the two. I mean between breath meditation and do-nothing. As far as I "understand" so far, breath meditation always includes attention. Attention is always something that moves away from what is. It also naturally feels best for me to "do" do-nothing. I always start with 5-10 minutes breath meditation for increased clarity and focus and then drop all internal movement. What's your opinion on that? I also try to implement self inquiry more again.

Amazing, thanks for sharing! This made my day

@How to be wise Talking about the mind, you seem greatly influenced by mental conceptions about what reality is or is not. If you are not there yet, drop all conclusions about "what will be if...". You have no clue. You will see when you're there. I also don't understand why you're asking a question and then defending your own position all the time. Just do the work and stop assuming you know how things look from a perspective you don't live from yet. You don't. I don't know that either, but I'm also not claiming to know how life looks like from an enlightened perspective. These are all word games and they won't lead you anywhere, especially if you don't even allow yourself to be wrong. Zen mind = beginner mind Good luck on your journey

Well said. I wish you a great day my friend.

Ultimately, that is also true. But to see THAT, surely people can help other people see it more clearly. I mean why else does this forum exist? Why do gurus exist? Yes, in the end, you are your own guru (the inner guru). We really have to see though that this path has different stages and especially in the beginning stages, guidance can be very helpful, don't you think? Even if it can't guide you to absolute truth, it can show you a direction or point out that you're lost in xyz. I don't know if we are talking about two different things here actually

That is the reality, I agree. That does not do anything in the realm of practically grasping this though. I'm not saying effort is necessary per se. But to get what you are describing, you can't just read it and go "Oh yeah, I get it" and your false self dissolves just like that. We have to distinguish between linguistically expressed thoughts that help us understand the nature of reality (what you just did) and an endeavor to help people experientally grasp what is pointed at. It's easy to say all movement is the self, but what should anyone do with this then? I feel you, I had this same insight myself and we had some conversations about it. But for the sake of helping other people out, there must be a way to guide them towards this themselves, besides from dropping facts. "You are infinite." Bam. Are all you readers seeing that now? Just kidding That is precisely true. That's why one has to see the resistance and let it unfold itself so it can reveal its illusory nature. Not trying to say you're wrong, just expanding <3

That's exactly NOT what this technique is there for. I'm not implying there's anything wrong with what you do. But the way you're putting it sounds like a justification for not being responsible for getting your shit together and indulging in destructive behaviour - gaming can be destructive when it takes the place of things you should do instead. Just a kind push <3

That is true! As far as my own observation goes, this stage is necessary though. One has to go through that (be it for a short or long time) to "arrive at" the letting go of effort. It's not that easily grasped in the mind (not at all actually), so you have to do and do and do until you see that ANY movement and/or involvement in movement is not a non-doing. This is so so subtle until you see it. At least I had to find that out for myself (of course many teachers' pointers helped me greatly) through trial and error. It is the same notion of "Just observe what is true in this moment, but don't interfere in any way." that I repeatedly heard in different styles of expression. The understanding of it still gradually gets deeper and deeper the more I dive into this investigation. I know that guys like Rupert say you can see it right now. And certainly one can. But so often I feel the people asking him those questions can't really go where he thinks it is so easy to arrive by "just seeing it objectively". They say they do but it feels like they don't want to feel stupid and just go along. Mentally it might click but experientally I don't think so. Just my own experience and perception of this whole topic, can be wrong of course

@Mikael89 You speak of common sense which is a little problematic to begin with (little reminder: we are talking about non duality here, remember what that means? Ever read the book of not knowing?) and you judge all the things being said here that say something you don't agree with. That is highly ignorant. If you would even dare to go further, you would see this for yourself. Don't you see that we try to guide you away from thought and into experience? Nobody except you cares for being right. That's not what this forum is here for. And seeing so many people here lovingly helping each other out, is another proof in a manifested form that expanded consciousness leads to greater love. If you had the experience you would even see it is the same thing. I don't want to proof you wrong. Seeing your stubbornness for months now makes me think it's not even possible, not with words. Start doing the practices, especially shadow work. Go back to Leo's video about radical openmindedness, you seem not to have grasped that experientally yet at all. And again, this is no argument. Please see the difference. This is a last attempt to guide you where you need to be and this forum seems to hold you back. I'm just observing, maybe I'm wrong. No matter if you even see the truth of it or not, I love you man. I love you deeply from my heart. May you be blessed with all the love and joy you deserve and with the insights to see that this is who you are. Namaste

@Jamie Universe Hey bro! I struggled for a long time with the whole do nothing topic. There are certain things that greatly helped me get there. One is just experience. Do it everyday and keep the basic principles in mind whenever you catch yourself doing something like being swept away by thoughts. Regarding the principles the one thing that conceptually helped me the most was the book "True Meditation" by Adyashanti. It's an amazingly lucid take on that topic. Of course, you have to drop all those ideas when actually being in the meditation. But they might be of great help. Also don't forcefully try to always get it right. You will get there

I know this one gets mentioned a lot but I thought about what was the most influential movie experiences I ever had. And it does stand out. The Tree Of Life by Terence Malick. I watched it at the comedown of a very insightful acid trip. The movie experience though became so impactful that it was the real peak of the whole trip. I recommend not watching any trailers. What did this movie evoke in me? One of the most important things that accompanies me since then: Grace. This movie is about having faith in the universe, seeing the beauty around you even when it feels like you're betrayed by life. The cinematography is incredible, Emmanuel Lubezki is a genius. The characters really spoke to me, the script was fantastic. The scope of the whole movie is so all-encompassing. It left me in tears and showed me the beauty in life, in art, in humans, in conflict, in family, in pain. Simply marvelous. But it is not everyone's kind of movie, he has a very specific way of telling a story. A lot of thoughts being spoken in the off. Also, "Roma", the new Alfonso Cuaron movie. Every shot is pure beauty and you can find much truth in it, in a relative and absolute sense. It's painfully close to reality, it's hard to stomach but it shows you what love is and what it is not.

That is such a generalization. How are you making this general statement from your limited observation of people doing it? I think, as always, you got people misusing it/using it recreationally and people using it for personal growth. Yes, you are playing with fire, that doesn't mean the transformative nature of these substances is suddenly thrown out the window. Yes it's dangerous, doesn't mean you can't go super deep on a mix trip as you can on a single substance trip. Let's not drift into demonization and devaluating everything that fits in the box of what some just decided to call wrong or bad.

@benny The very mechanism that brought your ego structures into existence did so to save you from too much pain. This happened when you were an infant. It is a natural process. The problem is, by partitioning your experience you also lost the connection to your own true nature. This resulted in a loss of trust, love, peace and clarity. These things, as well as joy/happiness, are intrinsic in yourself. How can an illusion be more helpful for what you call happiness? We are no infants no more. We can take the pain. By facing it, you can return to what you were once connected to - your true self. This doesn't mean you go to war against your ego structures. It means you observe them and see what they actually are. If you really look and let experience unfold, these questions will fade away.

@Winter Thank you, I appreciate your opinion To be honest I think it's both. Yes, it's my ego big time and I always had this problem of not wanting to do the work and finding arguments not to do it. But well yeah, if I'm honest, I really have to laugh about the superficial stuff I learn there. My instinct often tells me "Wow, this gets you nowhere." Then again, I think about just pulling through it. Yeah you're right, it's my decision. Thanks for your input. @Joseph Maynor That's really inspiring. I also have the feeling I get more sensitive to what is the way to go the more I develop myself. I also see myself pulled by my family who want me to "get something done already" and my inner criticism telling me I'm just not strong enough and finding ways out. But am I really or do I fuck up my healthy intuition which tells me to get out of my safety-comfort zone and do it the way I want although no one thinks it's right. Am I blocking that by overthinking? Thanks for sharing your personal situation and thoughts, I appreciate it.

Definitely, the way I put it is for sure a label. I still can say I don't enjoy the process of studying in the academic world cause I see the big big limitations of their method and the stuff I learn is very superficial or not at all relevant to what I need for what I want to do. So if it were about learning, I would be off way better if I learned the specific stuff I need to learn. My University doesn't even include the clinical modules which are the only ones connected to therapy. I won't be able to study at other universities, it's sadly not possible. You see what I mean? The question is - degree or not? If not, I know what to learn. But will I find a job? Sorry if this is the classical guy who doesn't know where to go but I have to be honest that this wave of confusion just comes in again.

That is so true but what exactly do you mean? I mean which point do you tackle with your answer? That I say I'm not an academic person? To be honest, that's what I'm struggling with for a long time already. I got long phases where I don't think about it and just go on but it comes back. Just now for example. Do you have any recommendations how to deal with that fear?

Just to put another perspective in here. For some months now I'm reading the many works of A.H. Almaas who is for me personally THE master of nuance. I recently read "Facets of Unity - The Enneagram of Holy Ideas" which presents those holy ideas in the most nuanced metaphysical way possible (even the inventors of the enneagram say Almaas takes it the deepest). All those ideas are just a tool to understand objective reality and its many faces. There is for example Holy Truth, Holy Perfection, Holy Omniscience, Holy Work, Holy Love etc. It sounds kinda woo-woo when you just read those words but behind every one of those ideas is a very deep observation of objective truth - namely ONE possible facet of truth for each idea. That all being said, at the very end of the book he again concludes that absolute reality is of course comprised of every facet and that all those cease to be even distinguishable cause... Well cause non-duality. Speaking of the human spiritual evolution though, those facets are real entry points and stages of realizing your true nature. But, and this is what I was aiming at - he says that one of the facets stands above all the other facets in the sense that without it, you can't have any other perception of objective truth. And that facet is Holy Love, Love with a capital L. Without love, the other facets are almost impossible to realize because Love is within all of it. Love is being is consciousness is everything is nothing. If you want the nuanced version, read the book. I'm not saying I agree but I find this super interesting. What's amazing is he also has psychological explanations of why we lose the different connections to truth. It's all rooted in the loss of basic trust in the universe in early childhood which leads to a loss of Love/recognition of yourself as Love.

Also you can find eternal truth in the simplest of movies. One of those truths is love. It doesn't have to come from someone who knows about love as deeply as some yogis or saints. It's intrinsic in all of us and some directors express it intuitively. I dare all of you to watch "Roma", the new Alfonso Cuaron movie, it's on Netflix. It's not only utterly beautiful and personal. It's so strong in what it says. It's about love. And it puts the relative in perspective to the absolute. It's contemplative, slow, meditative. It's a damn fine piece of art.

@Pilgrim Thank you man. I really appreciate this input. That makes me think. It's always the same, different things pulling from different angles. One side tells me I'm just lazy and I should put in the time and energy to get at least a bachelor and go on from there. The other side is that I'm not an academic or scientific person at all (at least how I see it practiced) and hear many people say degrees are not that important and that I should rather create something myself. Some other thing tells me I'm an artistic person and I should just get my ass up and pursue that (writing and/or music). I know I have to work to decide. And I see myself whining which doesn't help. It's just confusing you know. Thanks so much already

Love you all <3