Truth Addict

@Nervtine Is "Getting Rid Of Attachments" An Attachment We Must Get Rid Of?

My shadow is the biggest

Mystical experiences don't equal Truth-realisation. You could have all the experiences you want, but they won't be like attaining Truth. But I think they're part of the realisation.

@28 cm unbuffed And what if not? You see the irony? You don't know until you try.

@Sharp Everyone knows that. Next!

@Nahm Okay thanks a lot. ?

@Nahm Well, first of all, thanks for your care and support and for the time and patience you spent on reading and analysing my post then replying to it. It means a lot to me ? As for "breath is NOW itself", well, when I stop breathing for a while, the NOW does not go away, so they're not the same thing. As for the fear sensation, it was exactly as you described, it was shame and guilt, and a little bit of regret, because I could have done better. My main concern was my parents, and I felt like I've disappointed them. But when I got home, they supported me and I went back to normal. I love my parents ? The ever-present now is all there is, but I still think about the future, though I know all thoughts are not the future, but I'm still convinced that there will be future, I don't know what it will be like, I just know it will be. And that's making me feel irritated because I don't know what is the best thing to do, and though I know whatever I do is the best and is God's plan, but still I have my fears. I know I am the present moment theoretically, but I don't feel that way on a cellular level. I mean it makes perfect sense, but it seems like there is a disconnection. The only thing that I hold dear now in life is my family, and I don't want them to be hurt in any way. I care about other people as well, but my family is beyond limits, I don't know what to do, I want to completely surrender to God, but then I know I would lose my family, or at least I would hurt them. So I can't choose right now, death is mysterious, and I'm not afraid to face it by myself, but I believe that my parents will suffer for me. Anyway, God is always proceeding with its plans, so it doesn't really matter what I think or say or want, what is destined will be when it's time. I realised years earlier that I don't have a free will, I don't know why it didn't help me. I tried to memorise myself that I don't have control, but I would only register that just as another thought and belief, and I would say to myself something like this: I should have never started thinking about life, and I should have never gone on the spiritual path, and all of these teachers and teachings are egoic and evil, maybe all of spirituality is a lie, but I didn't stop believing in God, I just started to doubt the path, then I would say to myself that I didn't have a free will and that this must be the plan, but then I think, what tf is the point? Why am I experiencing all of this? It's so confusing. Not thinking is just numbing my mind and questions down, but the questions are still there and not quite answered. I think the greatest lesson I learned from this experience, is that comfort is not one's best friend, in fact, comfort is blocking me from being serious and realising the Truth. I'm sorry I bothered you with all these details, I'm desperately looking for answers, and nobody gave me answers like you did and still do, I completely resonate with you. So again, from the deepest of my heart, thank you ?

Isn't all of this just another belief? Maybe you've experienced it, and I haven't yet. How exactly telling me that is going to change anything? I am trying, and I was faced earlier today with a strong fear and I inquired a lot. But I also noticed how much my mind went out of control, usually I could stop thinking about other stuff, but it was a huge life-shifting event and I wasn't prepared enough, maybe because I don't face too many dangerous situations. I tried to stay present and look at what is right now, it didn't work. Thoughts kept coming. I took deep breaths, and thoughts started to calm down but didn't go away, so I did one minute of holotropic breathing, which was the most effective. I felt relieved and it mostly went away, I accepted reality. The feeling was somewhere in my belly or lower chest, but now it's gone, and I'm back to normal which is bliss most of the time. Any advice on there? I'm still searching for an explanation of this specific experience I'm having, and the spiritual path gives more stories, so both sides are stories, but yet, the materialist paradigm helps me with survival, while the spiritual paradigm helps me with emotions. (this was a brief of the stream of thoughts I encountered earlier this day). I've already realised that the present moment is all that there is, but still, it's like a surface level realisation, not all the way through, but I'm working.

I like this analogy! And it seems convincing, just like the materialist paradigm I used to believe in. When death is on the door, and thoughts arise non-stop, what to do then?

It's too good to be true, but still I don't know, so it's just a belief for me. Likewise, I can believe that God will punish me after the dream ends.

?

We want the answer to be in thought form, but it isn't.

@now is forever Change assumes time and different states, therefore illusion. As I said earlier, let go of thinking. Thinking only leads to more thinking. Perhaps "moving on" was not the best description, but rather, being in the present moment. We can't know what is (knowledge here means acquiring a new thought, and we already know that thought is not the real thing), but we can be it, because we are it.

These are thoughts just to escape the fact that we don't really know. And there's too much thinking. Why not accept the fact that we don't know and move on? Without a thought, there is no difference. It is what it is.

I don't think I understand your question. If you mean why is there illusion? Then my answer is I don't know. (thought in itself is also an appearance).

@now is forever Appearance is itself, thought makes it appear not.

I'd say if we were to focus on what's in our hands right now, that'd be enough.

@now is forever Language is a dangerous thing, beware not to fall into its traps. Understanding vs not-understanding is a concept, we're looking for actuality. It's as simple as this picture shows: The mistake we unconsciously do, is that we automatically think of it as a horse (concept), when in fact it's just a picture of a cloud displayed on a digital screen (actuality). Things are what they are. Language creates veils that block us from seeing things as they are. The more we use, the further from actuality we get.

Of course, and the more we talk about it, the further we get from it. It is. Or even better, is. Or even better,

Is memory a proof of existence? Interesting stories. But that's not an answer. What is an experience?

@now is forever ? A thing = Everything = Nothing.

Is it? Like before you were born, where did you come from?

@Sharp What is "functional" to define "dysfunctional" against? Of course, life is ego (duality).

Surrender. As simple as that.