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Consciousness came into existence out of nothing (and as far as enlightened people tell us, literally nothing) and goes into nothingness each time you are in deep sleep. If consciousness can come into existence once, it can do it as many times as it wants, can't it? In other words, if you were born once, there is no reason for you not to be born twice, or infinitely. I think the belief of eternal death is more of coming from the egoic possessing. "My consciousness! If I am dead, consciousness is dead!" From what it seems to me it's more like consciousness is the TV, and the life that is happening within it simply runs on it. Once it's over, another movie will take the place. Why wouldn't it? Ask yourself. Why are you you, why is "your" consciousness living that specific life, and not one of the trillions of others that exist or have existed? Would it make sense for consciousness to let one life appear within it, and then never again? How then, does it decide which life to choose? It's quite ironic if you think about. People who are alive seem to be convinced that if they die, consciousness dies. But then, people who are dead (ego-death) seem to be absolutely certain that consciousness is eternal. Maybe it requires death to see that.

@Dodoster i think pure consciousness is ethereal nothingness with intelligence. You are NOW spirit in the form of body/mind. However you are basically still pure consciousness as the true self. You can do whatever you want and be whatever you want to be. You don't have to struggle and suffer like others because you've awoken to your true nature. You don't have to worry about death, because that's a gateway to new things, new existences, new manifestations of spirit, similar to your human manifestation. You are in form as spirit because You got sick and tired of being formless and wanted to mix it up a little. Let's have fun in this Form and not take everything so damn seriously, folks!

My current understanding is that the Mind is not real, but the illusion of it is needed in order for life to be. Mind made by awareness just like the tail of the comet is made by the comet, but the comet is not actively creating the tail, it is just happening, and then the comet takes itself to be the the tail, because it doesn't see itself, but it sees what is behind it. Just what @zazed was talking about: The witness cannot see itself as an object, but here is where we differ since I've read and seen too much non-duality teachings of many masters who say the same story - awareness can sense it's own presence. It is not an object to be seen, it is the eternal subject, and the eternal subject is the only 'thing' that can be aware of the eternal subject - the mind cannot know infinity or nothingness, although it can talk about them. It can point to them.

What you are illustrating is the trap of the dualism mindset. To be able to create identity the ego constructs poles in the mind to orient itself. Which is why I laugh with an infinite laughter when people refer to nothingness, that's a mindset still trapped in dualism. I find that the same dualism mindset is revealed from the belief in the concept of true and false. Enlightenment is the process of illuminating, it begins in when we consciously make the effort to do so and can continue infinitely.

@Dodoster Let's clear some things up, the true nature of yourself and everything else is nothingness. It is that which doesn't die. It is silent. Without quality. Immortal. Because it is the only thing that exist it has nothing to limit it. So it is infinitely intelligent, and creative. So if your nothing what do you do you create a "experience" or being something its genuis. So you have your avatar that you currently inhabit. You need to be a player in order to play in the game. Your so hooked on negative & positive. And pecieve & relate everything to your survival and self. In till you have a deep enough enlightenment yourself may have many confusions and questions. They are all distractions from being. because the answers you seek come from a deeper reality that won't be found here.

Stop differentiating between mind and ego. It's the same. It's you (because you do very much identify yourself as a person(ego) inside a bag of skin). Mind. Ego. Person. Self. All words pointing to the same: the false self. It's false because it truly doesn't exist. It's just a phony sensation that you exist as such a self that makes it seem real. When people say Ronaldo has a big ego, the word is used in another context than in non-dualism. So you want your self killed. You don't have an ego. You are the fucking ego. "it seems like the ego within me wants me to die, or at least to be very unhealthy and unhappy. " "Why is it that my ego is programmed so to speak to want to hurt me?" Questions for you: 1. The ego within who exactly? You? Who are you? 2. Want to hurt who? Can you really be hurt? Only an ego can be hurt. You are that ego - or well, truth is you aren't, what you are is consciousness/nothingness/God pretending it's an ego - it's a fun game, everyone (consciousness in many forms) are playing it, some egos are aware they don't exist (i.e. that it's a game) and some (most egos, 99,99%+) are not aware and instead believe they were born as an ego and will die as an ego (ego= person/body/mind w/e).

If you could realize that you are simply peace in everyday life, then aloneness is just another passing emotion, just like a train passing by. Then, you could work on whatever it is that you're working on. The "ideas" are all coming from "you" aka nothingness, aka peace. We all have these talents coming from nothingness waiting for us to unravel them in some way, to contribute in some way. Maybe it's been there since childhood but you weren't fully aware of them till now.

Shaivism (Origin: India – Started: At least 2000 years BCE) Shaivism theology ranges from Shiva being the creator, preserver, destroyer to being the same as the Atman (self, soul) within oneself and every living being […] It is the Hindu tradition that most accepts ascetic life and emphasizes yoga, and like other Hindu traditions encourages an individual to discover and be one with Shiva within. God (Shiva) is within man, God is within every being, God is present everywhere in the world including all non-living beings, and there is no spiritual difference between life, matter, man and God. Zoroastrianism (Origin: India/Iran – Started : 2000 years BCE) There is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda is the beginning and the end, the creator of everything that can and cannot be seen, the Eternal, the Pure and the only Truth. Zoroastrianism's divinity covers both being and mind as immanent entities, it is better described as a belief in an immanent self-creating universe with consciousness as its special attribute. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to "be among those who renew the world...to make the world progress towards perfection". Its basic maxims include: Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean: Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. There is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, and then all beneficial rewards will come to you also. Jainism (Origin: India – Started: At least to the 6th century BCE) Jain texts reject the idea of a creator or destroyer God and postulate an eternal universe. Jainism has been described as a transtheistic religion, as it does not teach the dependency on any supreme being for enlightenment. The tirthankara is a guide and teacher who points the way to enlightenment, but the struggle for enlightenment is one's own. Jain texts propound that the universe was never created, nor will it ever cease to exist. It is independent and self-sufficient, and does not require any superior power to govern it. According to Jain belief, souls, intrinsically pure, possess the qualities of infinite knowledge, infinite perception, infinite bliss, and infinite energy in their ideal state. In reality, however, these qualities are found to be obstructed due to the soul's association with karmic matter. The ultimate goal in Jainism is the realization of reality For Jains, non-absolutism means maintaining open-mindedness. This includes the recognition of all perspectives and a humble respect for differences in beliefs. Jainism encourages its adherents to consider the views and beliefs of their rivals and opposing parties, including other religions. Buddhism (Origin : India – Started : Between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE) Early Buddhist canonical texts and early biographies of Buddha state that Gautama studied under Vedic teachers [...] learning meditation and ancient philosophies, particularly the concept of "nothingness, emptiness" from the former, and "what is neither seen nor unseen" from the latter. According to Buddhism there ultimately is no such thing as a self in any being or any essence in any thing. The nirvana state has been described in Buddhist texts partly in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearlessness, freedom, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, indescribable. It has also been described in part differently, as a state of spiritual release marked by "emptiness" and realization of non-Self. This insight in the Mahayana tradition, states Shōhei Ichimura, has been the "insight of non-duality or the absence of reality in all things". Nirvana In the Buddhist context, nirvana refers to realization of non-self and emptiness, marking the end of rebirth by stilling the fires that keep the process of rebirth going. Bodhi (Enlightenment) It is the mind's natural and pure state, where no distinction is being made between a perceiving subject and perceived objects. Taoism (Origin : Chinese – Started: At least to the 4th century BCE) The Tao is a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it denotes the principle that is both the source, pattern and substance of everything that exists. Tao literally means [...] "the One, which is natural, spontaneous, eternal, nameless, and indescribable. It is at once the beginning of all things and the way in which all things pursue their course." It has variously been denoted as the "flow of the universe" […] The Tao also is something that individuals can find immanent in themselves. Human beings are seen as a microcosm of the universe […] As a consequence, it is believed that deeper understanding of the universe can be achieved by understanding oneself. Taoism rejects the Confucianist emphasis on rituals, hierarchical social order, and conventional morality, and favors naturalness, spontaneity, and individualism instead. Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei (effortless action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: 慈 "compassion", 儉 "frugality", and 不敢為天下先 "humility" Neoplatonism (Origin: Athens – Started : 3rd century BCE) The work of Neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, "the One." Source, Absolute, or One is what all things spring from According to Plotinus, The One is not a conscious god with intent nor a godhead nor a conditioned existing entity of any kind, rather a requisite principle of totality which is also the source of ultimate wisdom. One must become "God" (henosis). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One — in other words, through an ecstatic approach to it. Thought cannot attain to this, for thought reaches only to the nous, and it itself is a kind of motion. It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the soul can recognise and touch the primaeval Being. Beginning with the contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it then retires upon itself and withdraws into the depths of its own being, rising thence to the nous, the world of ideas. But, even there, it does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not we have made ourselves". The last stage is reached when, in the highest tension and concentration, beholding in silence and utter forgetfulness of all things, it is able, as it were, to lose itself. Then it sees God, the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment, it enjoys the highest indescribable bliss; it is, as it were, swallowed up by divinity, bathed in the light of eternity. Gnosticism (Origin : Jewish – Started : 1st century CE) In many Gnostic systems (and heresiologies), God is known as the Monad, the One. The Sethian hidden transcendent God is, by contrast, defined through negative theology: he is immovable, invisible, intangible, ineffable; commonly, "he" is seen as being hermaphroditic, a potent symbol for being, as it were, "all-containing". Christian Mysticism (Origin : Jewish – Started : 2nd century CE) Bernard McGinn defines Christian mysticism as: [T]hat part, or element, of Christian belief and practice that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God. ...new ways of knowing and loving based on states of awareness in which God becomes present in our inner acts. Religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. Mysticism thus becomes seen as a personal matter of cultivating inner states of tranquility and equanimity "one of the immortal spirits waiting to introduce the reader to his own unique and intense experience of reality" The path of illumination, has to do with the activity of the Holy Spirit enlightening the mind, giving insights into truths not only explicit in scripture and the rest of the Christian tradition, but also those implicit in nature, not in the scientific sense, but rather in terms of an illumination of the "depth" aspects of reality and natural happenings, such that the working of God is perceived in all that one experiences. The awakening, the stage in which one begins to have some consciousness of absolute or divine reality. Dzogchen (Origin: Tibetan – Started: 8th century CE) Rigpa is a central concept in Dzogchen. It is "reflexively self-aware primordial wisdom,"which is self-reflexively aware of itself as unbounded wholeness. "In Gelug, the conscious experience is some level of blissful awareness of voidness." The Dzogchen meditation practices also include a series of exercises known as Semdzin (sems dzin), which literally means "to hold the mind" or "to fix mind." The practice of Trekchö […] In this practice one first identifies, and then sustains recognition of, one's own innately pure, empty awareness. Insight leads to nyamshag, "being present in the state of clarity and emptiness". Sufism (Origin : Islam – Started : 9th century CE) Haqiqa (which means « ultimate truth ») In Universal Sufism, Haqiqat is the "phase" in which the central ongoing question/concern of the seeker is subsistent (as opposed to transient) reality. The life of the seeker becomes a fathoming device in which what is timeless, formless, weightless etc, is recognized and valued above all. Entering into marifat in Universal Sufism, the seeker no longer asserts or defines anything […] Or better said, all conversation topics are of equal interest. The seeker's life is then, itself, revelation. Fakir In mystical usage, the word fakir refers to man's spiritual need for God, who alone is self-sufficient. "Faqir attains eternity by dissolving himself in oneness of Allah. He, when, eliminates his-self from other than Allah, his soul reaches to divinity." They were known as performers 'mad' in a worshiping trance of joy - transcending above both good and bad. [...] They believe the soul that lives in all human bodies is God. Kabbalah (Origin : Jewish – Started: 12th century CE) Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal, and mysterious Ein Sof (infinity) and the mortal and finite universe (God's creation). The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision two aspects to God: (a) God in essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless Divine simplicity, and (b) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which he creates and sustains and relates to mankind. Kabbalists speak of the first as Ein/Ayn Sof (אין סוף "the infinite/endless", literally "that which has no limits"). God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his Divine reality in perfect unity, so that the Creation effected no change in him at all. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. Sikhism (Origin : India – Started : 15th century CE) Sikhism rejects claims that any particular religious tradition has a monopoly on Absolute Truth. Guru Nanak taught that living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is above the metaphysical truth In Sikhism, the concept of "God" is Vāhigurū—is shapeless, timeless, and invisible "God" is omnipresent and infinite with power over everything "There is but one all-pervading spirit, and truth is its name! It exists in all creation; it does not fear; it does not hate; it is timeless and universal and self-existent, You will come to know it through seeking knowledge and learning! (meditation and self-inquiry)" Once truth starts to shine in a person's heart, the essence of current and past holy books of all religions is understood by the person. The goal of man, taught the Sikh Gurus, is to end all dualities of "self and other, I and not-I", attain the "attendant balance of separation-fusion, self-other, action-inaction, attachment-detachment, in the course of daily life". Transcendantalism (Origin: USA – Started: Early 19th century CE) Transcendentalists also believe that all people possess a piece of the "Over-soul" (God). Because the Over-soul is one, this unites all people as one being. Neo-Advaita (Origin : USA – Started : Mid 20th century CE) The basic practice of neo-Advaita is self-inquiry, via the question "Who am I?", or simply the direct recognition of the non-existence of the "I" or "ego." This recognition is taken to be equal to the Advaita Vedanta recognition of the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the recognition of the "Formless Self." Christian Science (Origin: England – Started: 19th century CE) In particular, adherents subscribe to a radical form of philosophical idealism, believing that reality is purely spiritual and the material world an illusion. Eddy saw humanity as an "idea of Mind" that is "perfect, eternal, unlimited, and reflects the divine," according to Bryan Wilson; what she called "mortal man" is simply humanity's distorted view of itself. Eddy viewed God not as a person, but as "All-in-all." "for God is one, Time is one, Individuality is one, and may be one of a series, one of many, as an individual man, individual horse; whereas God is one, not one of a series, but one alone and without an equal." The Infinite Way (Origin : US – Started : 20th century) The Infinite Way reveals the nature of God to be one infinite power, intelligence, and love; the nature of the individual being to be one with God's qualities and character, expressed in infinite forms and variety; and the nature of the discords of this world to be a misconception of God's expression of Himself in His universe." "'The Infinite Way' is not a religion... but an experience in spiritual living. New Age (Origin: Western countries – Started: Late 20th century) This intentional vagueness as to the nature of divinity also reflects the New Age idea that divinity cannot be comprehended by the human mind or language. There are nevertheless a number of traits that are repeatedly associated with divinity in New Age literature, the first of which is the idea that it is holistic, thus frequently being described with such terms as an "Ocean of Oneness", "Infinite Spirit", "Primal Stream", "One Essence", and "Universal Principle".A second common trait is the characterisation of divinity as "Mind", "Consciousness", and "Intelligence", while a third is the description of divinity as a form of "energy". A fourth trait is the characterisation of divinity as a "life force", the essence of which is creativity, while a fifth is the concept that divinity consists of love. The New Age worldview emphasises holism and the idea that everything in existence is intricately connected as part of a single whole, in doing so rejecting both the dualism of Judeo-Christian thought and the reductionism of Cartesian science. "Higher Self" which is a part of the human but which connects with the divine essence of the universe, and which can advise the human mind through intuition. Actualized.org (Origin: But Leo ... - Started: HEYYYYYYYYYYY)

Heres the mindfuck. The observer ONLY observes, it doesn't think, it has no opinions and it doesn't care. In a sense there is only "attention". When you think about a tomato, usually that thought comes and than 1 second later it gone. Unless you pay more attention to it. You could literally mentally masturbate days about a tomato (all your past experiences, how they taste, look, where they comes from, the farmer growing them etc). Most people don't do this with tomato's, but they do it with other thoughts. You don't really have control over everything that comes up in your mind when you think about tomato's, BUT you are/can fully in control the amount of attention you give it. Thoughts are thoughts, there is no difference between a tomato and a horrible memory in this sense. Ego is not something bad. You need ego and in a sense are ego. Everything you want is ego based. Without ego there is no point. You probably have heard the glasses example. You either believe you are the glasses or are aware that you are wearing them and seeing true them. My point is, yes its all the ego speaking, and that's fine. But it has no power nor control. Its a tool you use to live. At the moment you probably don't fully see this jet, and you see the ego coming, attach to it, and say, this is me and this is reality. The silence, emptiness, nothingness that remains when you are not having thoughts is the observer that cant be observed. Who you think you are remains nothing more then just a thought, a fantasy.

"Don't you think that forcing the mind to obey your desire is more ego fighting and in the long run it will produce an unwanted result (more monkey mind)" Well, the mind/ego = desiring being addicted to thoughts because they are oh-so-important (cos you think they define the essence of you). Enforcing your awareness on the most natural thing in this world: breathing, is in itself something the mind also desire. However it prioritize thoughts higher, so that it's not that focusing on breath in itself is not-desire (it is a desire), it's about focusing on breath INSTEAD of thoughts that's : NOT a desire (=pain) for the mind FOR SURE. But yet you have the ability to do it anyway. It's paradoxical , because 'forcing the mind to obey your desire' is pretty much equal to the sentence 'forcing the mind to obey the mind's desire', and at the same time it's not... just like at some point the ship turns, and the mind wants to prioritize awareness on things like breathing more than thoughts in itself, and it's now effortless to have a still mind. what's most in alignment with our true nature (nothingness, pure being, consciousness): a still mind or a monkey-mind? When I say still mind I just mean mind without thoughts.

The reaction is like this when you awake after experiencing this: You went from nothingness to "Riding the Ox Backwards" from space through blackhole to your embodied self that appeared out of nowhere. Well, different ppl react differently. Remember who reacted like this: "Oh my god! It's absolutely infinite! It's absolutely infinite! You don't understand! There's no wayyyyyyyyy you'll understand! It's absolutely infinite!" Guess who said this?

Why the binary paradigm? No offense, but there is a direction beyond this binary that is much more meaningful and all-encompassing. Plus it doesn't carry the contradictions and corruption of principle via reductive simplicity present in the above view. There are three not two facets to interaction. Not just service to self and service to others, but also shared service. And you do all 3 at the same time. Superposition over binary or oneness or nothingness. The most satisfying, abundant, and meaningful relationships are when you keep harmony and create synergy between all 3 worlds. My World - You have individual pursuits, desires, and standards. You nurture those and spend time on those without isolating yourself. Her/His World - You care and are considerate of the individual pursuits, desires and standards of other people. You support and nurture those feelings of others because you genuinely want them to succeed and you have an abundance of generosity to give. However, you do so in concert with your own individual wants so they balance each other out and one is not being deprived or over shadowed by the other. The Shared World - You have a shared sense of family or community with people where you both are coming together and contributing to the shared pursuits and desires of something greater than the individual wants and needs of everyone in this shared space. However, again you do so in concert with the collective individual desires, so none are neglected or exploited/taken advantage of. It's a three-legged stand and when one weakens through neglect or exploitation the whole thing falters. In a very simple way this is basically the cause for strife in the entire world. People unable to come together in a harmonious manner, so that everyone's individual and shared worlds are nurtured and allowed to grow without neglect and exploitation. No offense, but your missing the point of the hero's journey with this extremism you've attached to. It's not about leaving society, it's about leaving your comfort zone. Going beyond the edges of where and who a person currently is. You are only focusing on the beginning of the hero's journey and not including the reintegration with others, and the expanding of the heroes edges as he or she returns with greater capability and abundance to contribute to the shared space. It's not about the society, it's much larger than that and about the mechanisms of nature society and everyone is dealing with, that the hero goes on his journey to face both within and without as he expands beyond his edges. So when he returns from his travels he can bring with him value that moves all of society forward from it's previous zone of comfort and normality. That's also why your very last sentence is so flawed and out of touch with nature. Even if all of society conspired to help you attain harmonious expansion the hero's journey would still be necessary, because you would still have to expand and go beyond your zones of comfort and face the mechanisms of nature that create stress and resistance as we do so. Growing pains, challenge, and resistance are a part of life and are tied into meaning and beauty. However, the flavor of challenge, growing pains, and resistance would be much more healthy and less twisted and ignorant and extreme if we had a shared world where everyone was dedicated towards such a harmonious expansion. This is feels like such a naive and sheltered view from my experience. Have you ever protected anyone before? Have you ever stood up to someone trying to seriously hurt or rape or kill another? Have you been there every hard step as those people healed? You ever see someone's head get smashed in or know anyone whose been tortured or seen children blown to bits by an rpg and have to pick up the pieces afterwards? I have first hand experience of all but the torture and war and someone very close to me has had to experience those horrible things while fleeing his country overseas. This is NOT a game. This is life, the brutal, horrible side of it that is a contrast to the beautiful, fragile side of it. Go through those things, or tell someone to their face whose experienced it, that it's a game. I bet you'll feel differently afterwards. The impact of that side of life will change you and wake you up from that disconnect. I don't say that in anger. I mean it sincerely and with compassion as someone who carries those scars of understanding. Yes, you are right in that the aim is to approach every interaction with love and understanding, but that alone isn't enough for the brutality of life. It takes resistance as well as acceptance and is also why you shouldn't tunnel vision on what it means to fight and resist. Fighting is about way more than just violence and it always starts within yourself first. It's the ones who fail first within themselves, who leak that failure out onto others and the world they share with everyone else. This world relies on inter-connection and cooperation for it's health and trust is required for that cooperation to happen. So to fight is to resist the corruption of trust both within ourselves and outside in the world. It's not self-service that is evil, evil is the corruption of trust. And again, resistance or fighting is WAY more than violence. A person learns that when they step deep into the brutal fires of the dark side of life and bring healing beauty back from it.

@Staples Right, because the true Self is omnipresent. There is no gap between Nothingness and perception. They are infinitely close. Which is why it's so challenging to discriminate the Nothingness from perception.

Hmmm, a mini aha moment maybe. Watching a Rupert Spira video, sitting in my comfy chair, winding up for the day, slowly. As I become absorbed in the message of the words and the images moving on the screen, pretty much everything outside of that small visual field of immersed focus begins to dissolve in no time. Like a special visual effect in a movie (only natural, organic and completely underived). I get spots and fuzzy splotches and flashy undulating star-fields and constantly morphing clouds of nothingness roiling around as an undefined mess of random pastel explosive arrays of fireworks within watercolour fringe-fields. Closed eye visuals occuring with open eyes, everywhere that my intent, or immersed focus is not. You've all seen it once you focus intently on an object, especially a lit, animated display screen. You notice for an instant or two as you slightly de-focus on the content of the screen that the rest of your visual field had dissolved into a staticy, undefined, mass of unformed light and colour - scrambled, changing, much like a colour version of screen static before you hooked the signal into your T.V. The further away from your narrowed field of attention, the more frissonic and ethereal, a phosphene of the unmanifested. It's not a visual effect is it? I've often wondered lately what it would look like if I could move the body-mind just slightly faster than the speed of light, and whirl around quickly enough while walking down the street to observe the world manifest from nothingness behind me. I had assumed that that sort of immediate, obvious reality busting was beyond my capabilities, but we just may witness the unmanifested turn into our reality every time we focus in on an object closely and intently, to the exclusion of most everything else, and then zoom out a bit, remembering to notice, and not discount the dissolution and resolution of 'matter', as a visual quirk. Waddya tink?

@Bebop the skull comes with this poem from Bukowski: "My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover."

So every now and then I think about what I know about enlightenment, and my rational mind comes to the conclusion that it is entirely explainable with simple rational means. Of course, this will not keep me from investigating myself, but from time to time it creates confusion within me. So, when we look at the mind, or at my mind in particular, I can say that everything that exists and that I exist. But ironically, everything that I believe to exist, everything that from me is everything, solely exists within my mind. It cannot exist anywhere else. But of course, the mind creates a dualism within itself. It differentiates certain aspects of the expirience from others. For example, there is a very particular feeling when someone "else" is in the room. That other entity is a very specific expirience within the mind. Entity itself is an expirience. Now as far as I know, the path towards enlightenment is disassambling that very specific expirience, so the entity disappears and all that is left is the direct input of expirience meaning color, sound etc. But if I look at it from a rationalists perspective, all of it makes complete sense. The mind is a simulation of the brain. All of the mind, which is all of the expirience, happens nowhere else than in the brain. The irony here is that the mind itself thinks that the "outside world" exists, even though the outside world is simply part of the simulation. Everything the mind thinks exists is part of the simulation. So, one way to look at enlightenment would be simply disassembling the expirience of "I" and "something else", so that everything becomes I. In the moment that happens, the mind will believe that it is everything in existance. Because previously it wasn't aware of the fact that everything the mind thinks exists is part of the mind. That includes everything, the simulation of time and space, the simulation of object and subject, the simulation of nothingness and everything. All the mind is left to recognize is that infact, even the simulation of the mind itself is part of the simulation. So, of course the mind will first think believe it is god. God is everything, and because what the mind thought everything was, was now revealed as part of the mind, the mind is in the disbelief that it is infact everything. It is not just what previously was defined as "me", it is what previously was defined as anything whatsoever. But here comes the trap. The mind, from this perspective, is an isolated expirience. The fact that this is the case is that noone can be part of someone elses expirience. If that was truly possible, that we would have easily provided proof for that. But yet, there is noone on this entire planet that can access someone elses expirience. But here comes the confusion. Me, and I am kind of talking to myself here, is still operating within that simulation. So, I have no clue wether or not anything at all exists or not. The mind cannot be aware of anything outside of the mind. The illusion here though is that "revealing" the truth is nothing more than revealing another illusion. If I look at it from a rationalists perspective, someone saying that "He is god" or he is "Infinity" is completely explainable. Yes of course he is infinity, of course he is god. He is literally everything within his expirience. But, if the expirience of that person ends, that infinity is gone. God is gone. Everything that person thought or believed, or even expirience as "absolutely everything" is no gone, because inherently it was nothing more than his mind playing another trick on himself. The mind recognized that it was an simulation after all, and that it was able to alter itself. Infact, the mind is inherently nothing at all, it simply is what it is, the expirience itself. And as far as I can tell, I cannot explain even the most simply thing. I cannot explain the color red, or the sound of my fingers tapping on the keyboard. There is no explanation for that, because explanation is concept. But what I do know is that the mind is capable of anything. It can simulate absolutely everything. It can even simulate the expirience of absolutely everything. Infact, it is simulating that expirience at all times, because from the perspective of the mind, whatever is within the mind is absotutely everything. So, when Buddah sat down and discovered the true nature of the self, didn't his brain literally just discover that it was a simulation? That, the "me" is no different from what the mind thinks the "everything else" is. That infact, the "me" is nothing at all, because it is a simulation? That infact, everything in existance (within the mind) is nothing at all? Now, the confusion within me is mainly that I am trapped within the simulation, so everything I think is part of the simulation, even the rational explanation I just gave for the phenomena of enlightenment. And here comes the explanation for why people stop trusting rationality. Because once you realize that everything you believe is rational, there is no reason to trust rationality. Infact, how can you trust rationality if it is part of the mind. How can the mind possibly explain itself? But yet, every expirience that I have heard of so far is explainable with rational means. Unconditional love for example is the obvious choice of the mind for recognizing that all of the simulation is the mind. And of course, the mind likes to take care of itself, so it will love everything within it's simulation. But what if the mind lacks one step. What if the mind is not recognizing it's own limits? What if the mind is capable of simulating whatever we might belief to be "infinity", an expirience so incredibly that it completely transforms the mind, but yet the mind is uncapable of recognizing that even everything, or nothingness, is simply the mind. That, yes, whatever the mind thought was the "outside world" was infact part of the mind, but that what truly is the "outside world", will for the mind always be a mystery, because it inherenitely cannot access any of it. Yes, everything that enlightenment is still is true from the perspective of enlightenment. You are "everything" and yet "nothing at all". Infact, the "you" does not exist because it's simply the expirience. But what I fail to understand is why one takes the step further and says that "expirience" is everything that exists. I mean, what if it isn't? Yes, from the expirience perspective, everything is expirience, so obviously it will assume that everything is expirience, but what if the expirience is simply limited. What if whatever one beliefs to be everything is simply a very limited part of the true nature of reality, which the mind might not be able to access even on the most basic level. Yes, if I sit down and do enlightenment work, I will have the expirience of god and being everything and being nothing. But why do I assume that this expirience actually is everything and nothing? Yes, it might be a direct expirience of everything and nothing, but what if that direct expirience is an illusion? We cannot forget that the mind is capable of simulating EVERYTHING that we think exists. It is literally the simulation all of your entire reality, even the part that you think is not part of your reality. Literally everything that exists within or "outside" of you is your mind. But that doesn't change the fact that it might just be the mind, whatever we call the mind. We can call the mind god, of infinity, but what if it's not what the mind beliefs it is? What if the expirience does not correlate with actual reality, whatever that might be? I hope someone can understand my doubts. I know thinking is not the way to expirience truth, but what if thinking is the only thing that will keep me from "thinking" that infact expiriencing the "truth" is nothing more that expiriencing the truth of the mind, which is obviously that it is nothing at all, and that it is everything within the mind... If one has an expirience of infinity, isn't it simply the expirience of what the mind would think "infinity" is, or even what within the mind infinity is? I'm so confused.

ego is a threat to society! ego drives society! ego doesn't exist! ego is society exactly! ego is nothingness! ego is everything! ego is a powerful tool! ego is just some symbol that means nothing! ego is hell itself! ego is heavenly! ego is definitely different than consciousness! ego is consciousness exactly in essence - they are one and the same! you are ego but I am not! I am ego but you are not! you don't exist (but I definitely do - trust me you are just a figment of my imagination) ego will systematically dismantle all existence from the world!

If you get conscious (!!!) of it, then you will feel an instant freedom. An instant detachment. Everything is perfect as it is. If you rationalize it as a bad thing, then the point is not yet understood. A "good" label to it is just the same. Once you're properly detached from everything, your true motivation will surface (some say from the Higher Self). The more detached you are, the more authentic your life becomes. Don't panic when you hear emptiness or nothingness or meaninglessness. They can NOT be negative. They just are. This is something to be understood through conscious experiences. Don't rationalize or conceptualize any of it. I would recommend Trinfinity Academy to you. Probably the best practical course i have seen out there. I'm doing that myself right now at the moment.

Universal Mind is defined as a collection of all structures of all kinds. There is Change and Change gives birth to all kinds of processes. The structures are formed by self-organizing processes that happen in Presence on the canvas of consciousness, and they are metaphysical in nature, which means they are pure information, patterns of nothingness. Our physical universe, bodies and human minds are tiny parts of the Universal Mind. Universal Mind is near infinite, contains all worlds and universes and is all knowing and omnipotent. We are that universal Mind in fact, we have assumed this limited form and gotten identified with it. All you need to do is realize who you are, and you can enjoy this vast scenery of infinite creation. How? What? Why? All such questions are answered in detail here: http://pureexperiences.blogspot.com/2017/04/mind-map.html

Concentration - 5:00, Meditation - 20:00+ What a great session I just had this morning. I used the same "count to 100" strategy to concentrate, while just imagining an old digital clock with flipping numbers for each second. After that I started my meditation session and it felt like one of the strongest yet. A couple of very random insights I want to note for myself from it were: a lava lamp of nothingness, a blanket/pocket of nothing to reside in from my thoughts, an elevated view of an everlasting canopy of nothing, and familiar waves of feeling in my feet. When my 20:00 timer went off I silenced and carried on, like I wasn't ready for the session to be done. Only when my girlfriend opened the door was I finished. This has been the first Friday + Saturday without at least a hit of weed in a long time. Honestly, it hasn't been weighing on me too much. I have been keeping busy though, but some of the things I have been doing I used to smoke and do so there is definite progress here. It has been a real busy weekend but I was able to still get in some weight training, cardio and cold showers. I have never had such an urge to do cardio. I have also had some time to just sit, looking out my front window with no sources of stimulation. Gratitude: I am thankful for the sun this morning. I am thankful for safe travels all weekend. I am thankful for all the wildlife living around my yard.

Maybe, but it seems to me that he is saying what every teacher is saying. It is beyond comprehension. I mean think about the implications of no free will. It means that you will realize when you realize. Everyone wants to make a model of reality in terms of enlightenment. How is this any different than science or religion? Further, how is being obsessed with finding the perfect model any different? Seeking obsessively inherently means that you are not accepting what is. Also, it is a real possibility that all of the teachers applying concepts are only activating the self. The self deals in concepts, but awareness deals in direct experience. Do you think that thinking about reality is any different from being a self? Maybe the best way to explore reality is to .... be reality. I mean, anything beyond the subject, like a concept or experience, is an object, which is duality. Around us is a singular expression of what is. Any form of seeking assumes that there is some experience outside of your self that you need to seek. That is duality. In some other videos, he talks about how there is no moment in time because time is infinite. So specifying a moment is like claiming that a circle has a beginning or end. It all just is. It happens simultaneously. What do you think memory is? Are any of your memories in the 3rd person? IT seems to me that memories are all 1 experience of what is. In my meditations, I have been going through memories, and it as if I am projecting consciousness to the memory and reassuring my consciousness (at the time of the memory) that everything is fine and this is just reality expressing itself. I have told the separate self that it is ok to allow emotion to express. So Im not saying that exercising meditation practices are dumb. I am saying that you have absolutely 0 control in deciding to do them. They just are. It is 1 continuous expression of the same awareness. Our "brain" generates a reality, and beyond the bounds of that, we will not ever know what is. The dualist would say that there is information beyond what a person is aware of, that comes into awareness and is perceived. The non-dualist would say there is no separation, there just is. The experience arises as part of the awareness expressing itself, but there can be no separation. It is all one continuous expression of the same nothingness which is also everything. The only way to see this is to stop applying concepts and to be the actual experience. Seeking prevents this because when you are applying a teachers concepts, there is no difference between that and applying any other concept. It just is. The self cannot consider this, so it seeks to understand the un-explainable instead of just being it. Its the same thing with choice. There can be no choice for a dualist because a choice is a duality. It all just is. There can be no choice. Accepting no choice (as if you have the choice about accepting choice) is a big step toward acceptance. Again, none of what I have said has any bearing on you, and even if it were to make you "change your mind", that is an illusion. You were always going to change your mind, and the self creates the illusion that new information caused you to make a choice. So stop feeding the rational self. Be what is, what always was, what always will be. (but what also never was or will be because past and future are illusion).

Jesus said: I took my stand in the midst of the world and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, I found none of them athirst. And my soul was afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and they do not see that empty they have come into the world, and empty they seek to go out of the world again. But now they are drunk. When they have shaken off their wine, then they will repent. Jesus said: If the flesh has come into existence because of the spirit, it is a marvel; but if the spirit has come into existence because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. But i marvel at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty. Jesus never renounced the world, he was standing in the midst of us all. He was not an escapist; he moved in the marketplace, he lived with the crowd. He talked to prostitutes, laborers, farmers, fishermen. He didn't go out of the world, he remained here amidst you. He knew the world better than anybody who has escaped from it. It is no wonder that Christ's message became so powerful. I TOOK MY STAND IN THE MIDST OF THE WORLD AND IN FLESH I APPEARED TO THEM. And he was not a spirit. Many masters go on continuously visiting you in their spirits. Buddha still knocks at your door, but in the spirit. And if you cannot see a person who has come in the flesh, how can you recognize Buddha? Jesus says: I appeared in the flesh to them -- I was in the body, they could see me, they could hear me, they could feel me, but still they missed. They missed because... I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK. They were not there really, no consciousness at all. I knocked at their doors, but they were not at home. If Jesus comes to your home and knocks, will you be there to receive him? You will be somewhere else; you are never at home. You go on wandering all over the world, except to your home. Where is your home? Inside you, where the center of consciousness is, is your home. You are never there, because only in deep meditation are you there. And when you are deep in meditation you can recognize Jesus immediately -- whether he comes in the body or bodiless makes no difference. If you are at home you will recognize the knock. But if you are not at home, what can be done? Jesus will knock and you will not be there. That is the meaning of the word drunk: not at home. Jesus said: I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK; I FOUND NONE OF THEM ATHIRST. This has to be understood, a very delicate point: if you are drunk with this world, you cannot be thirsty for the other. If you are drunk with ordinary alcohol, with ordinary wine, you cannot be thirsty for the divine wine -- impossible! When a man is not drunk with this world, a thirst arises. And that thirst cannot be fulfilled by anything that belongs to this world. Only the unknown can fulfill it, only the invisible can fulfill it. So Jesus says a very contradictory thing: I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK; I FOUND NONE OF THEM ATHIRST. Nobody was thirsty because they thought they had already found the key, the treasure, the kingdom. So then there was no search.This world and its wine can give you only temporary relief, can give you only temporary gaps of forgetfulness. I FOUND THEM ALL DRUNK; I FOUND NONE OF THEM ATHIRST. AND MY SOUL WAS AFFLICTED FOR THE SONS OF MEN, BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND IN THEIR HEART AND THEY DO NOT SEE THAT EMPTY THEY HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, AND EMPTY THEY SEEK TO GO OUT OF THE WORLD AGAIN. AND MY SOUL WAS AFFLICTED.... You cannot understand what suffering happens to a Jesus or a Buddha when he looks at you, drunk with this world, not thirsty at all for the divine, for the truth; living in lies, and believing in lies as if they were truths -- and missing for nothing, missing all for nothing. Then it happens that the smallest things can become barriers. AND MY SOUL WAS AFFLICTED FOR THE SONS OF MEN, BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DO NOT SEE THAT EMPTY THEY HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, AND EMPTY THEY SEEK TO GO OUT OF THE WORLD AGAIN. Empty you have come, but not exactly empty: filled with desires. Empty you will go, but not exactly empty: again filled with desires. But desires are dreams -- you remain empty -- they have nothing substantial in them. You are born empty, and then you move in the world and accumulate things, just believing that these things will give you a fulfillment. You remain empty. Death snatches everything, you move again into the grave, again empty. ... BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND IN THEIR HEARTS AND DO NOT SEE THAT EMPTY THEY HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, AND EMPTY THEY SEEK TO GO OUT OF THE WORLD AGAIN. Only the heart can see how empty you are! What have you gained? What maturity, what growth has happened to you? What ecstasy has come to you? -- no benediction yet? The whole past has been a rotten thing. And in the future you are going to repeat the past: what else can you do? This is the affliction of a Jesus, of a Buddha. He feels miserable for you. BUT NOW THEY ARE DRUNK. WHEN THEY HAVE SHAKEN OFF THEIR WINE, THEN THEY WILL REPENT. This is about you. Don't think 'they' -- they means you: when you are shaken out of your drunkenness, you will repent. This word repent became very meaningful. Repentance is beautiful if it comes through the heart, if you realize that, "Yes, Jesus is right, we have wasted our lives." This is unique to Christianity. If you repent totally, if it comes from the heart, if you cry and weep, if your whole being feels and repents that you have been wasting God's given opportunity -- you have not been grateful, you have misbehaved, you have mistreated your own being... you feel the sin. This is the sin! -- not that you have murdered somebody or that you have stolen; that is nothing. Those are minor sins which are born out of this original sin: that you have been drunk. You open your eyes, your heart is filled with repentance, and then a scream, a cry, comes out of your being. There is no need for words, you need not say to God, "I repent, forgive me." No need. Your whole being becomes a repentance. Suddenly, you are cleansed of all the past. This is one of the most secret keys Jesus delivered to the world. It is one of the oldest keys. But understand what repentance is. Just saying the words won't do, and saying them halfheartedly won't do. When your whole being repents, your whole being throbs and you feel it in every pore, every fiber, that you have done wrong, and you have done wrong because you have been drunk and now you repent -- suddenly there is a transformation. The past disappears and the projection of the future from the past disappears; you are thrown to here and now, you are thrown to your own being. And for the first time you feel the inner nothingness. It is not empty negatively, it is just that the temple is so vast, like space.... You are forgiven, Jesus says, you are forgiven if you repent. BUT NOW THEY ARE DRUNK. WHEN THEY HAVE SHAKEN OFF THEIR WINE, THEN THEY WILL REPENT. JESUS SAID: IF THE FLESH HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE SPIRIT, IT IS A MARVEL; BUT IF THE SPIRIT HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE BODY, IT IS A MARVEL OF MARVELS. I think Karl Marx missed this! I wonder what he would have thought if he had come to these saying of Jesus. Jesus says: ... FLESH HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE SPIRIT... as all religions say -- God created the world. That means flesh has come out of the spirit, matter has come out of the mind; consciousness is the source, the world is just a byproduct. Then, Jesus says: ... IT IS A MARVEL -- it is a mystery. BUT IF THE SPIRIT HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE BODY... as atheists say, materialists say, Karl Marx, Charvak and others say.... Marx says that consciousness is a byproduct of matter. This is what all atheists say, that the world is not created out of the spirit, but the spirit is just a 'by-phenomenon', an epiphenomenon of matter; it comes out of matter, it is just a byproduct. Then Jesus says: ... IF THE SPIRIT HAS COME INTO EXISTENCE BECAUSE OF THE BODY, IT IS A MARVEL OF MARVELS. The first is just a marvel: that God created the world. But the second is a marvel of marvels -- if the world created God. To believe the first is difficult; to believe the second is almost impossible. It is possible that the lower is born out of the higher, just as a man can paint a picture. We can say the painting has come from the painter, it is a marvel, a beautiful painting. But if somebody says the painter has come out of the painting, it is a marvel of marvels. How can spirit come out of matter if it is not already there? How can a flower come if it is not already in the seed? But Jesus says, anyway, both are marvels. But the third thing is the greatest marvel, and that third thing is: I MARVEL AT HOW THIS GREAT WEALTH HAS MADE ITS HOME IN THIS POVERTY. You are poor, a beggar, because you are always desiring, always asking to be given more. Desire is begging, and a desiring mind is a beggar's mind. You may be an emperor, it makes no difference -- you just become a big beggar, that's all, a great beggar, that's all. But you go on demanding. Jesus says this is the marvel of all marvels: ... HOW THIS GREAT WEALTH -- of divine beingness, of divinity of God -- HAS MADE ITS HOME IN SUCH POVERTY. Drunken people, asleep, poor, begging continuously all their lives; asking for ugly things, fighting for ugly things, obsessed with disease and illness -- and God has made it his temple, and God has made it his abode, his abode in you! Jesus says this is the best -- impossible, incomprehensible -- mystery. Marvel of all marvels! Nothing can transcend this. This is the affliction of a Buddha, of a Jesus: looking at you -- emperors, who have the kingdom of God, begging; asking for worthless things, wasting your time, your life, energy, opportunity. Repent! Look at what you have been doing. It will look so foolish, you will not even be able to believe that you have been doing this. The whole thing will look nonsense! Look at what you have been doing with your life, look at what you have done to yourself. You are just a ruin, and the ruin is growing every day. In the end you will be just a ruin, totally ruined. And in your begging heart, in your begging mind, there lives the king, the supreme. This is a marvel!

First, the holographic principle is only an idea at this point with no direct evidence, nor formal proof and so far only applies to hypothetical universes. In my view it's an oversimplification that allows scientists to get their math to work in imaginary situations, but has yet to be found viable in real world situations with complex dynamics. It sounds nice for some and it makes things seem easier, but in my view it suffers from "corruption through reduction via simplicity" which creates a distortion in our perspective of reality (just like absolute nothingness as a paradigm in my experience). Second, I am basing what I say on first hand direct experience that comes from many years spent developing the core capabilities that determine the depth, quality, and coherency of that first-hand experience. I use science's observations of reality to corroborate that first-hand experience, it is secondary to my experiential knowledge. I am not just theorizing about the core things I talk about, I have practical application and real life success with them. I can point to examples of my 13 core dynamics occurring all over reality, both within me and outside me. They are foundational and universal patterns of movement. Third, you talked about "something physical, but brand new & never seen before outside of my home by anyone, ever (like an original painting or sculpture)". There is a VERY important difference between a brand new combination of existing things and something completely or absolutely brand new. That painting was formed, not created in the absolute sense, by combining different pigments and then applying them to a canvas in a particular pattern. Then some one applied effort to transport it to your door. There is a sequence of events, a sequence of combinations in every facet of "creation". But, when you make the mistake of focusing on a static absolute you lose touch with the steps in the sequence while at the same time losing awareness of the previous steps taken for a shape to be in the current form that your conjecture is starting with (like the cotton or linen the canvas was derived from). That is in essence what the holographic principle does for scientists, by following it they create a focus with two static points rather than staying connected with the whole process of constant movement, because "it's easier" or "more economical". It presupposes an absolute containment, which ignores or discards the potentiality for permeability and access to expansion beyond their "beginning and ending" points. In my experience the compulsion to attach to absolutes is a sign of lacking tensile resiliency in a person's mind which leads to focusing on extremes and static positions, rather than maintaining the tension of constant motion and nuance, plus constant access to potentiality/change (there is a difference between constant and absolute). Internalizing too much of a static position will make a person rigid and atrophy different inter-relations which a person relies on for the proper functioning of certain capabilities like differentiation as mentioned above. Basically, people get subtly pushed around by the pressures of life, which subconsciously pushes their mind and emotions, influencing them to attach to extremes and derive paradigms based on extremes. Human history is rife with this problem and those paradigms are deeply rooted, but hopefully we can evolve from them before it's too late. It's something I've been working on for years by gaining access to deeper layers of my sub-conscious and working with pressure differentials, plus many other things.

@Whywolf I think this one, it's big, it was for a friend who helped me in the journey of awakening I'm looking forward to see them! I love drawing skulls, you might like those too, the last one was inspired in this poem from Bukowski "My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover."

@Salaam Let me ask you this first: do you belief that there exists a material outside world, and you are a human inside this world? It is in fact impossible to prove an external world. Any "prove" you might take would be inside your direct consciousness and would then require a causal interpretation between an event outside of you and the "prove". What you describe with the screen is not the visual screen itself, but interpretations of other sensual sources like hearing or feeling that there is this screen even if you don't watch it. That is a belief. In actual experience, the (visual) screen dissolves into nothingness. Yes, every belief is an attachment, because it is the assumption of a concept being true or very probable, or having some judgement over a concept. But I don't agree that every concept is in itself an attachment. Concepts can arise and dissolve in the field of awareness without being attached to them. Just like a tree can arise and dissolve in your field of awareness when you drive through a forest.