Search the Community
Showing results for 'Nonduality'.
Found 4,046 results
-
Forestluv replied to Javfly33's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Javfly33 A few thoughts: 1. Low/moderate doses of psychedelics can be great for dissolving the sense of self and revealing one-ness without going into some bizarro reality. Yet keep in mind, that when the conditioned mind returns, it will want to contextualize the experience and make sense of it. The mind may create all sorts of thought stories. These can have practical value for the person/human, yet these thought stories aren't actual - they are contextualizations. The human mind has attachments/identification to a thought story of "me". At a deeper level, there is attachment/identification to experience and feelings. Awareness of all this is a major expansion. Yet the awareness doesn't mean the underlying attachment/identification to that self dissolves. There is recognition and there is embodiment. 2. Recognizing the illusory nature of self does not mean conditioned impulses in the mind-body will suddenly stop. A nondual realization will not cure someone's broken leg and will not stop pain impulses in the mind and body. It is the relationship to those impulses that changes. There is an energetic shift. Mentally, it may be a "game-changer" and relieve a lot of personal anxiety and neuroses. Yet conditioned neurotic impulses may still appear in the mind. 3. The human mind is conditioned to perceive duality it's entire life. The first glimpses of nonduality will seem radical and cause a sense of instability and groundlessness. The mind might start thinking "Who am I?", "Do I even exist?", "What is the point of doing anything in life?". This can cause discomfort in the mind and body. . . I am a big proponent of following one's true desires. If the mind and body reacts with strong resistance/anxiety and says "Whoa, this is too much - we need to slow down and get our life together" - I would honor that. We don't want to traumatize the mind and body. If you were climbing Mt. Everest and the body started hyper-ventilating and went into hypothermia, we would pause and allow the body to recover. 4. Follow your true desires. All there is, is this moment you are having right now. This moment is Home. The deepest human desire is to return Home to this moment. -
Forestluv replied to Schahin's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Glimpses of nonduality are often contextualized as solipsism by the personal self. Solipsism is a cognitive construct - there is a prior to that construct. Solipsism is still dualistic. It sees others as unreal and it's self as real. Therefore thoughts like "i am all alone" arise. That is only a half-truth. If others are not real, that means that i am not real as well. This is the next step: to realize "i am not real". You keep using the terms "i" and "me" in a personal context. How can "i" be all alone if there is no "i"? There is no "i" to be all alone. Nonduality is much more radical. In nonduality ALL selves are nonexistent. Other selfs and my self do not exist. Cloaking a personal "me" as a transcendent "Me" is a sneaky trick of the ego. Remove the cloak and realize there is no "me". There is no point to all your questions because they all assume there is a thing called "me". Consider the following questions: How much money do I need to invest in feeding my unicorn? Where is the best place to train my baby unicorn to fly? How can I keep my unicorn in my yard? Won't it fly away? Do I need to get a licence to own a unicorn? I have two dogs that are very territorial - how can I protect my baby unicorn from my dogs? . . . We could go on and on and on. . . All of these questions are a waste of time because they all assume that a unicorn is real. . . The questions are a distraction - it is much more important to realize there is no unicorn. When one realizes there is no unicorn, all the unicorn questions dissolve. . . Similarly, these questions about "me" assume there is a "me". This is a distraction from realizing there is no me. Once this is realized, all the "me" questions dissolve. -
Forestluv replied to arlin's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
All words, language, concepts, images, things are dualistic. If there is a "thing", then there must be something that "thing" is not. Any "thing" separated from One Everything is dualistic. If there is a "thing", there is a "not thing". If we say there is a thing called a chicken, then there must be non-chickens for contrast. If we say there is a thing called blue, there must be non-blue for contrast. If we say there is nonduality, there is duality for contrast. Yet all words, language, concepts, images, things are also nondualistic. All things are One Everything. It all IS. There is no thing that is not Everything. Everything is every thing. So all words, language, concepts, images are Everything, just like a bird chirp, sunset, knee pain, confusion, selfish thoughts, tuna sandwiches, ESP, lucid dreaming, NDEs, psychedelic experiences, astral projection, budhhism, hinduism, perception, theory are also Everything. All communication is dual in the sense that what is communicated is not what is non-communicated. And all communication is also nondual in the sense that all communication is Everything. We don't step outside of Everything, point and say "That stuff over there is Everything". Creating constructs is one form of communication. This generally involves the intellect. Yet there are other ways of communication. Most human communication is nonverbal - yet we are not aware of it. It is mostly subconscious communication. Most communication is nonverbal: tone of voice, facial expressions, body language etc. As well, there are other modes of communication via energetics, empathy, intuition, a smile. . . I've done eye gazing with sessions in which we gaze in each others eyes for 5-10min. and let all thoughts dissolve. It is amazing what can be communicated and learned about another person. Yet it's not something that is figured out. After the session, you can't really say "Wow, let's make sense of what happened". I suppose you could, yet this would be a recontextualization. Yes, much can be realized through direct experience. Thinking and conceptualizing is a small part of what is available. Imagine going 20min. without a single thought. Will there still be happenings? Of course. There are happenings of Now. And a whole new world opens up. It's amazing what can be learned and understood without a single thought. I generally don't like using the term "enlightenment". It can be helpful as motivation for spiritual practice, personal development and communication. Yet there is a tendency for people to create an "enlightenment story". The self gets immersed in this enlightenment story, creates an imaginary thing called "enlightenment" and starts viewing things/people as being enlightened or unenlightened. I find this to be a distraction, yet others like it. Yes. All theory, concepts, constructs etc are eventually circular and deconstruct to Nothing = Everything. Yet constructs have practical value to the person/human. Yet this realization is liberating because it dissolves attachment/identification to constructs. Like a sandcastle. Once one realizes the sandcastle they are building will eventually be deconstructed to the beach, this can allow letting go of attachment/identification to the sandcastle. This can be scary, it can be liberating. This is what makes human connection so special. Imagine a "knowing" that can't be explained through words and concepts. We can try, yet it is difficult. Yet when there is a shared knowing of the ineffible, it's really meaningful. And it's not just sharing theoretical models (although that can be fun too). . . Yesterday, a student was trying to communicate her experiences with anxiety and panic disorder. She quickly stopped, sighed and said "It's really hard to explain, no one understands". I told her I also had experience with anxiety/panic and said "for me, it's kinda like XYZ". Her eyes opened wide and she replied "Yea, that's sorta like it. It's also kinda like ABC". Then my eyes got wide opened as I said "Yea, that's another good way to say it". The energetics between us totally changed. We weren't trying to intellectually build a construct of what anxiety/panic is. Rather, we both had direct experience with anxiety/panic and were trying our best to communicate it through words. Yet most of it wasn't through words. It was also the way we looked at each other and the energetics between us. We fumbled around with words trying to point to it, yet the understanding had nothing to do with the construct. The understanding wasn't a thought construct of what anxiety/panic it - the understanding was the knowing of the direct experience. And there was a "knowing" present. We each knew that each other knew. At the end, I don't her "You are the first person I've shared this with that *gets it*. She smiled and replied "Me too". . . This is a different mode of beingness and it is really special in terms of human connection. -
Forestluv replied to arlin's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@arlin You are asking great questions. . . A concept is dual in the sense that one concept is not another concept. A concept is nondual in the sense that every thing is inter-connected into Everything. Truth contains no opposites and all opposites. The Truth is zero, one, two, three, four. . . into infinity. Nothing = Everything. Tell me one thing that isn't Everything. . . In addition to the Awareness vs No Awareness duality, there are various other dualities in your statement: conceptual vs non-conceptual, understanding vs non-understanding, my vs. not-my, creation vs non-creation. Every word/idea is dualistic because it has an opposite. And there are an infinite number of inter-connections within the duality. For example, what is Awareness vs. No Awareness? What is awareness? Is there 100% Awareness? Can there be different degrees of Awareness? Can someone be partially aware? Are there different forms of awareness? . . . There is nothing wrong with such dualities and questions. Yet they will eventually collapse into Nothing and Everything. Just like all sandcastles collapse back into the beach. Within the construct you are creating, yes it does take place in awareness. That is a nice insight. From one perspective, yes - it has been gotten. From another perspective, there is no "it" to get, since there is no "not it" to contrast "it" with. The construct of nonduality can be explained and understood. Yet Everything is not understood. For understanding, we need to create some "thing" to be understood. For example, no one understands what glafdin is. To understand this, the mind would need to create a construct of what "glafdin" is. If there is no construct of glafdin, there is nothing to be understood. The intellect and conceptualization is limited. The intellect/conceptualization is within something. If there is intellectual/conceptual understanding, there must be non-intellectual/non-conceptualization understanding. Here, direct experience is King. So all the words appearing here are partial "pointers". For example: the collapse of the duality of dual vs. nondual raises another duality: the duality of the collapse of duality between dual and nondual vs. the non-collapse of duality between dual and nondual. . . . The collapse of this duality introduces another duality: The duality of the collapse of the duality between the duality of dual vs. nondual vs. the non-collapse of the duality between the duality of dual. The collapse of this duality introduces another duality. . . This continues on infinitely into Nothing = Everything. This highlights the limits of intellect/concepts. -
Forestluv replied to arlin's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
The nonduality is that there is One coin that contains Everything about the coin. Any description of the coin is the coin. We can create all sorts of dualities: For example, one side of the coin is silver, the other side is copper. Yet the silver and copper are the One coin. As you suggested, there is a trap of opposites. Imagine a person is conditioned for thirty years to see the coin as either Heads or Tails. They debate throughout there life about Head-ness or Tail-ness. They identify as a "Heads-seer" and want to marry another "Heads-seer". They are raised to believe that anyone who sees the Tails-side as being immoral. They want to raise their children to be good, moral "Head-seers". . . Now imagine after thirty years of opposition conditioning and identifying as a "Heads-seer" a person get sick and tired of all the inner turmoil and inter-personal conflict. They might do some spiritual work and realize "Omigosh, it's all One coin. I am creating Heads and Tails. There is no Heads and Tails!!". . . This awakening of nonduality is a major step forward, yet the mind will create a whole new duality. The mind will think "There is the One Coin vs. Heads/Tails". This is creating a new duality of nonduality vs. duality. The person may now think "I am a *One-Coin-Seer*, not Heads-Tails-Seer. There is no Heads-Tails. The Heads-Tail seers are delusional". . . The next stage is the collapse of the dual construct of nonduality vs. duality. . . There is realization that there is the One Coin and Heads-Tails. . . Most emphasis is placed on awakening to the nonduality of One Coin because the vast majority of humans are conditioned to see Heads vs. Tails. The nondual awareness and embodiment of One Coin is a major development. If 99% of the people haven't become aware of the nondual stage, that is where most of the effort should go. . . Few humans have nondual awareness/embodiment, even fewer have reached the collapse of nondual vs. dual. . . And there is another stage after this. . . Yet there is a problem trying to communicate two stages in advance. . . For example, imagine we are with a person that sees Heads vs. Tails and is unaware it is the same coin. For this person we need to point out that Heads and Tails are One Coin. We can't jump two stages ahead and point out that One Coin vs. Heads/Tails is also a duality because the person hasn't yet become aware of One Coin. -
Synchronicity replied to Identity's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
I’ve found that it is. Many minds included within Infinite Consciousness. That unites duality and Nonduality but the boundaries of each mind is relative. Like identifying a drop of water in the ocean. No hard boundaries -
JustThinkingAloud replied to ivankiss's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
This is duality. Your ego is you. It needs to be understood, integrated and aligned with nonduality. You can't have one without the other. If you ignore your ego, you're missing a part of the puzzle. The "ego" loves being right and hates being wrong. Once you're open minded and accept that it's ok to be wrong because nobody's born knowing everything, we all learn through our mistakes then the whole new world opens up to you. -
Synchronicity replied to dyslexicFcuk's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
I agree that rationality can be harmonized with Nonduality and spirituality. To cut off rationality as an “invalid” path to understanding Nonduality is, ironically, being dualistic. It’s creating a distinction between rational paths and spiritual paths. If reality is truly Nondualistic, then rationality can lead to the same insights as spirituality. Nice analysis! -
I don’t think the issue is not being able to understand it. If a normie visited a website for calculus professors, they won’t understand any of the calculus. There is no problem. . . The problem occurs when there is a misunderstanding. If a normie visits a calculus website and interprets the math to mean that an alien is stalking him, then that would be a problem. A couple examples of misunderstandings on the forum that cause people problems: You create all of reality is misunderstood as solipsism. . . . There is no objective meaning is misunderstood as nihilism. I would say that an adult would have much higher chance of misunderstanding problems than a child, because the adult as more filters through which misunderstanding would occur. For example, if we teach a child about nonduality and that we are all interconnected and One, it would not be traumatic to the child. Yet if we teach this to an adult, it can trigger a traumatic existential crisis since the adult has been highly conditioned into a self construct. They will be very threatened by nonduality because they want to protect their sense of self. I would go one step further and say it’s actually beneficial to teach children about nonduality before they become fully conditioned into duality, separation and contraction into a personal self. This conditioning creates the suffering and trauma. As well, the de-conditioning can cause discomfort. Yet through it comes liberation and love. If children learn about nonduality before dualistic conditioning, it would be beneficial. This will be part of education in the future. As the average conscious level of society increases, parents that are self-actualized will naturally teach their children about constructs of self and nonduality. This will lead to healthier people and healthier societies.
-
Beautiful conceptualization, Lukas. . . Notice how you have created a duality. A duality so intense that you have two hands!! You have constructed systems vs. creativity. The integration is simple, yet not easy. . . All dualities involve opposition. Here, systems and creativity are opposed. The mind is conditioned to see in opposites and will resist integration, because integration seems to lose the opposition to which the mind is attached. One key for integration is that loss of duality does not invalidate the duality. Saying systems is the same as creativity does not mean that systems isn't different than creativity. In this case, your mind is conditioned to see systems as different than creativity. Your mind has invested a lot of time and effort learning about systems and creativity and building constructs of how systems and creativity is different. The mind may resist seeing systems and creativity as the same. The trick to being a master integrator is being able to deconstruct to Nothing and then begin construction. From a purely deconstructed state of Nothing, Systems is Creativity and Systems is not Creativity. Both are true. When one can see this, there are an infinite number of inter-connections between Systems and Creativity. . . Yet to get to full deconstruction, one needs to let go of attachment to objective reality. If you see Systems as being objectively different than Creativity, you are in paradigm lock. I spent 20+ years working as a scientist. One of my major dualisms was between science and art. I saw them as separate and wanted to integrate them. However, I was locked into a construct of what science is and that art was outside of science. I thought that if I integrate science and art, I would need to re-define science is and I wasn't willing to do that. This was my biggest block. What I learned was that it isn't about redefining science and art. It's about transcending science and art. From a transcendent perspective, my old view that science is different than art is still true AND a new view that science is art emerged. Both are true. With this realization an infinite number of interconnections appear. Everywhere. . . . Yet this didn't happen in one jump. It was a process. If I could give my previous self one piece of advice it would be that Science is the same as Art does not mean I have to reject that Science is totally different than Art. You said that Systems is on one hand and Creativity is on the other hand. It is true that your two hands are different, yet it is also true that your two hands are the same YOU. Your two hands are different, the same and have an infinite number of connections. (Leo did a great video on this called "Sameness vs. Difference"). To start the process, I tried to have a blank slate and see the art in science and the science in art. Any inter-connections. I started hanging out with artists and observed them from a scientists perspective. I began seeing the science in their artwork. As I performed science in the lab I started seeing the art. I read the book "How to think like Leonardo DaVinci" and I started to realize DaVinci was both an artist and scientist. I spent a lot of time in nature and started seeing the inter-connections between science and art. At times I did moderate doses of psychedelics which dissolved the duality and allowed space for inter-connections. . . Eventually, the duality between science and art totally collapsed: science IS art . Yet this did not invalidate the duality that science is not art. This opened up infinite inter-connections that integrates the duality with the nonduality. At first, it took effort to come up with ideas to integrate science and art. Now integrative ideas happen effortlessly. . . Einstein is Mozart The other thing I learned is that it is more than intellectual. My mind was heavily tilted toward intellect, logic, science, evidence, analysis and concepts. Part of the integration process was to learn new modes of being: Intuition, Empathy, Feeling, Knowing, Being and Creativity entered the picture and became just as important as intellect. For example, I would intellectualize about what creativity is and created concepts about of creativity. Yet then I became creativity - I knew creativity through Intuition and Beingneess in nonverbal, non-intellectual ways.
-
Hmm... The presenter in the recent videos made a distinction between pain and suffering. I call that a nonduality fallacy. In my opinion pain IS suffering. The mistake all those spiritual teachers make is to contextualize their understanding within the context of today's world. Even the ACIM teachers I have found so far, maybe with the exception of Marianne Williamson, I don't know yet, talk about pain as inevitable. Here is what A Course in Miracles ACTUALLY says about pain: "1. Pain is a wrong perspective. When it is experienced in any form, it is a proof of self-deception." - https://acim.org/workbook/lesson-190/ What is needed is to recontextualize our understanding within a future framework. Tricky, yes, but even Eckhart Tolle talked about the possibility of a totally different reality. I think this is extremely important, nay necessary, for true transcendence of the ego, both of the personal ego and what I call the global ego.
-
Her teaching style may seem too entertaining to be deep but she has some of the clearest teachings out there. She uses unique language and has a great framework to better understand nonduality and how to go deeper with it, and especially understanding using love and desire as a force that you go with to dissolve self, not against. I'm going to add any videos I come across that particularly strike me here, and would appreciate if others do the same. All of it is amazing though.
-
Shaun replied to Byun Sean's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
So why make this thread if you're all alone in the universe? Who are you addressing? I am not meaning this in any condescending or obtuse tone, I'm just trying to form my own theoretical foundation by looking at other people's experiences of nonduality. -
Leeeon replied to Leeeon's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Ferdi Le Yes! , thank you. That is pretty much how i'm planning to approach it. I feel like they would be overwhelmed if i talked to them too much about selfimprovement/nonduality. -
@Moses Sometimes it means to be willing to get a negative reaction. Unconditional love/acceptance is basically nonduality. Most aren't there. An many aren't even willing to hold space for discussing topics that make them feel uncomfortable. If you're close with them they might hold space for uncomfortable topics but if not then I would read into conflict resolution/anger management skills so you could bring the conversation to peace. Otherwise I personally don't see it happening but that doesn't mean there isn't a way to make it happen.
-
mandyjw replied to jimwell's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Nonduality means psychosis, spirits/demons, repression, trauma, depression, malaise, etc is all the very same illusion. -
Michael Paul replied to Schahin's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
I recommend reading Discovery of the Presence of God: Devotional Nonduality by Dr. David R. Hawkins. He talks about the personal will vs. the Spiritual Will. The subjective state of personal will is an egoic construct in the mind, whereas with enlightenment you realize the omnipresent Self is what actually acts through you. -
@remember Of course nonduality should be taught differently to children and adults. The question of love being twisted is seen through the lens of a conditioned adult. An adult that sees "good" vs "bad" and "love" vs. "hate". Of course deconstructing that will be uncomfortable to adults. Yet children are prior to the creation/attachment/identification to that construct. . . If I told you fligfod = tuglin, it would not be a problem for you because you have not created, and become attached/identified, with a construct of fligfod vs. tuglin. If I told you there was a planet in which aliens believed fligfod was good and tuglin was evil, yet ultimately they are the same - you would have no problem with that because you have no attachment/identification with fligfod and tuglin. As well, you do not base your survival and well-being on fligfod and tuglin. . . Similarly, children have not yet become attached/identified to adult constructs - constructs that adults portray onto children. . . This is very difficult to see for adults because we are identified and immersed within these constructs and are unable to deconstruct back prior to our immersion into the construct.
-
@Serotoninluv i`m not saying that nonduality is not meant for children, but even then i would be really careful in what way i would introduce any child to nonduality. i`m saying leos non duality is not meant for children. i`m sure he would even point that out himself, as he probably knows how dark he sometimes is. as we are talking about nonduality it`s always about the nonduality of the whole dream isn`t it? i recently watched a father talking to his daughter while holding her, arms locked looking into her eyes and telling her in a verry direct way with a very clear and calm voice that she had to put on her jacket because they would have to leave the train. it was in a sense verry effective in pulling her out of her dream world but i could also see how she was scared by the sudden piercing and in a sense almost brutal way he showed his love especially because he was verry close to her face. her first reaction when he put her down on the floor again was to walk away. she was really cute singing and reading books all along, she was a bit hyper active but, he could probably have told her differently, she didn`t seem like she would not understand it if she was told it differently. so non duality is probably not just what the child makes up but also in what way the childs worldview is built. the second what is love video was very similar to that - i totaly agree that love can be brutal but the question is if we then still need to call it love, it`s very twisted.
-
@rememberIn some ways, introducing nonduality to kids is completely natural. If one introduces a child prior/during the construct of the self it is no biggie. For example, if a five year old is conditioned to realize that we create the construct of a self and it isn't real - it's no big deal. Similar to when a child has a nightmare and we tell the child that it's ok, it's just a dream. The child can also see that waking life is also a dream. To us adults, it's a radical idea - yet so was the internet. And know kids accept it as obvious. Recently, quantum mechanics is showing that two entities at a distance can be in immediate communication with each other and that material and immaterial can have simultaneously be everywhere and nowhere. This is radical to adults, yet when children are taught this - it will be like OK. It won't be any more radical than the internet to them. My 9 y.o. niece is an expert lucid dreamer. She has created a highly sophisticated dreamworld that is very real. She is having difficulty differentiating between her dreamworld and waking world. All the adults around her are telling her that there is something wrong with her. That she needs to let go of the dreamworld and fully accept her waking life as the real world. This may have practical value in being able to function in a waking world in which 99.9999% of the humans think is real. However it has also caused her immense anxiety and panic. I'm the only one she can talk to in which dream = real and real = dream. If all children were taught that there was one continuous dream, it wouldn't be a big deal. Kids would be like "OK, when do we get ice cream"? . . . It's an existential threat to adults because we have a lifetime of conditioning in which we created a personal story and an external reality of waking life.
-
TheAvatarState replied to OBEler's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@OBEler You got ideologized because you didn't contemplate it for yourself or become conscious of what was being pointed to. No statement can be absolutely true, because all words are dualistic and relative. Even the statement "nonduality is the absolute truth" is a relative, illusionary statement. What it's pointing to happens to not be. Do you understand what I'm saying here? What is the difference and sameness between "literal" and "imaginary?" -
Understanding Impermanence - Why Reality Is Always Changing // Devilry occurs when you try to make the impermanent permanent. you can only be a devil for a short while, not forever, devilry is temporary, god is forever. God is a shapeshifter a devil is what god becomes when it limits itself to a particular limited shape or form. and the devil then tries to maintain it shape or form by using all sorts of manipulations. make a list of all the forms your try to freeze and identify the ones you are most attached to freezing (people, animals, things, ideas, stuff about your body, appearance, your life, finances, whatever it is) "i'm not willing to let go of the position of power, money, business (oil company that destroys the environment - can you let that go for the sake of the environment and then nooo I wont let that go!.... you are selfish as fuck, you are a devil impermanence happens because of oneness, nonduality (reality is one thing, that means that no part of reality can gain an absolute monopoly over any other part, because all parts are equally powerful, not in one moment in time, but across all of time, no part of God can be all powerful and dominate the other parts because all balances itself in the end. But every part of God is trying to do that and that is the very mechanism of devilry. Devilry is when one part of god overtake all other parts and create a monopoly. ( The term monopoly is often used to describe an entity that has total or near-total control of a market. / the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.( from the perspective of the part (from you) is very unfortunate that things are impermanent, because you call that death. You call that mortality and for you mortality seems very unfortunate. From the gods perspective you want the devil to be mortal, not immortal. At first glance impermanence will seem depressive and negative to you, because you are devil and you're selfish. But impermanence is a great gift. So we reform devils by showing them that impermanence is not something you fear, resist and manipulate your way to avoid but something that you embrace. Not only does impermanence liberate you in the end and reduce suffering it also hidgens appreciation, love, enjoyment and beauty of the formed world. Start to notice that the things that you love the most in your life, that are so good, are precisely good because they are temporary. It is their impermanence that makes you appreciate them so much. ice cream, caviar, favorite food, film ... if you would eat the same ice cream every day for a year you would find it disgusting you appreciate things much more when they are gone (parents, children) God wants to maximize the creative diversity of life. Train yourself to appreaciate the cycle of lose, this is the cycle of life, the death of one thing creates room for something else "Awareness of the transience of all things heightens appreciation of their beauty, and envokes a gentle sadness at their passing. "Wikipedia God is lost in translation. God is that which you cannot put into words. Impermanence means that you will: lose your family. fame, status, wealth, good furtune, health, youth and good looks sharp mental faculties, memories being the strongest or the best at whatever your skills and your mastery every relationship you have will die every religion will die corporation, organization, political party, social movement, cult will die trend will pass every language will die every scientific theory will die every spiritual teaching will die and become corrupt every book will be lost and forgotten every person will be forgotten every city and country will die every civilization will die, every culture, tradition, will die species will go extinct humanity will die and go extinct continents go out of existence cause they transform into something else every physical object will die .... Every part will be made whole, every duality will collapse, every devil will merge back with God. That's what oneness means, that's what impermanence means, because life and death is a duality. The cost of being born is death. cigarette companies still cling to their products even though it's killing people, that's devilry. Foolish people try to cling and freeze reality into certain forms. One of the counter intuitive moves is to embrace impermanence rather than manipulating your way out of it. The cost of being a form is that eventually you must change form. Death is really a changing in form, you are shifting your shape . Surrender everything. Immortality is not possible via attachment to form. The bad news is that everything good that you gain in life will be lost. And the good news is that everything bad that be false you, will not be permanent. Impermanence is gods safety vault, but you labeled it as the greatest evil, precisely because your mind is limited and cannot see the full perspective. The mistake that you made is that you identified with a human being but what you truly are is a infinite shape shifter. When a shape shifter clings to his identity the suffers because it's untrue to his identity, Your likes, dislikes change, every cell becomes a totally new one...but you kid yourself that you are always the same. Become an infinite shape shifter. "Shape-shifting requires the ability to transcend your attachments, in particular your ego attachments to identity and who you are. If You can get over your attachment to labeling yourself and your cherishing of your identity, you can be virtually anybody. You can slip in and out of different sheels, even different animal forms or deity forms" - Zeena Schrech Form is formlessness Your first awakening will be moving from form to formlessness, but it will still be a duality and you will not be fully awake. You no longer This duality collapses and you no longer think nirvana is some other place but that nirvana is this place and has been this place the whole time. You have to access truth like you are the first one to access it,. Directly, here and now. How to apply this wisdom: Deeply observe impermanence in practice every single day. What you're feeling on your body, notice how you are being scared now and an hour later you are no longer scared..... Train your mind that everything fades. Observe how you cling and how this clinging to permanence, trying to freeze reality, how this causes suffering for yourself. Observe yourself doing this observe how others cling and the suffering that that causes, observe how politicians cling to their power, how celebrities cling to their fame Gradually surrender more and more attachments. notice yourself trying to cling to a state, like you cling to a pleasure and you want to keep that pleasure as long as possible Try to enjoy impermanence, how it's good that you're not eating the ice cream and how it good when you're eating it You become more spontaneous and able to enjoy the positives and the negatives, the peaks and the quiet moments. For the next 7 days, wear a wrist band and every time you look at it, remember to pause and remember that you're doing this exercise, trying to see things impermanence. Every moment will become more precious and special
-
Matt8800 replied to Gnostic Christian's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
@Gnostic Christian In the Old Testament Yahwah (Christian God) demanded blood sacrifice fyi. Also, nonduality would claim that God and "Satan" are not opposites, but that Satan is just an aspect/expression of God and ultimately one with God. Because Christian Gnosticism will not accept this, that path will only take one so far. Any idea of god whose ultimate will can be thwarted by another is that of a small god. -
I Believe The Most Authentic Statements Made Begin W/ "I Feel" Becuz We R Organic Beings In Mortal Bodies Made Aware By Sensations For me, the moment I give myself over to thoughts and ideas, I abandon my humility and suddenly become self identified with "something greater than myself." For me, every moment, every instant of awareness, every breath I take, presents me with a choice: "Do I represent myself ~ to my own self &/or to others ~ as a tender/vulnerable/mortal/anxious body? Or do I represent myself ~ to my own self &/or to others ~ as a monolithic/invulnerable/immortal/unassailable spirit?" Even as I write, in this instant, I can see and feel that choice looming before me.. I can presume to insist that this choice that I am engaged in, as I type, right now, is The Human Experience .. Or I can, in all tentativity, in all uncertainty and pure suspense, merely pose it, in tender supplication, as a most intimate cloud of sensations blowing through me .. Nevertheless, I DO wish and find, that there is a Rock Of Gibraltar in the duality: Mind/Head/Thought/Vision Vs Body/Heart/Feeling/Intuition. And that there is that Immortal Certainty in that duality. And yet, nevertheless, that very duality, is merely the finger pointing at Truth. Like a lighthouse warning of a rocky shore. It is but a guide post. Because the real truth is this fleeting instant of pure feeling and sensation, my fingers over the key board, the exuberance in my heart, the looming forth of release and vastness and possibility, freedom coursing forth with breath rhythmically, gratefully, falling and lifting in my diaphragm.. For me Advaita, Nonduality, Enlightenment, Truth, Love, Deity, Ideal Is Pure t ~ e ~ n ~ d ~ e ~ r ~ n ~ e ~ s ~ s Mine Yours Ours Life's Awareness Existence Universe Why, then, the duality? Why then, the dichotomy between Head and Heart, between thought and feeling, between mastery and submission, between, good and bad, between, yes and no? If all things are actually connected, why not merely express that infinite interconnectedness without separation? Just ever express that exquisite, flowing, endless and ongoing seamlessness? What IS that betweenness that separates? What IS that "illusion"? Is it REALLY an "illusion"? Or is it actually just another truth, in drag? Just another truth pretending to be other than truth? Just another truth (not an illusion at all, not at all) inviting us to play, in lila, with our own fears, in order to laugh at them, in order to show that, surprise!, the snake was just a rope all along? Or not? Maybe enlightenment is both the play of release from our mortal coil AND confinement to it, both freedom and restraint, both infinite bliss and endless terror. Both. What then? For me, the "what then?" is ? i n f i n i t e h e a r t ? w a r m t ~ e ~ n ~ d ~ e ~ r ~ n ~ e ~ s ~ s ? .. when I remember. Because I will forget. With every breath I take in, and breathe out, is both Advaita and Vaita, both dual and nondual. Both remembering, reintegrating, re-embracing, and forgetting, disintegrating, rejecting. Lightening and darkening. Both Avidyā and Vidya: The Dance Tandavam or Nadanta But, also, paralysis. Such is the uncertainty, anxiety, and therefore, bliss and beauty of our tenderness. IMO. In all humility. (Or, at least, some, nominal, tentative, humility..) And I believe, that for me, "enlightenment" is that profound humility that feels one's own heart, fully, entirely, in every moment, with all it's passion, both shock and serenity, both love and hate, both completely open and completely closed, both hot and cold, both warm and numb. And to feel one's heart fully, entirely, without reservation, is utter humility, complete meditative surrender to the whole of existence, both one's own and others'. And to cast one's glance, one's gaze, upon another, both in one's mind and in one's eyes, is to feel that other's heart beat, also, in the full spectrum of it's immense, vast, universal intensity and subtlety, pride and humiliation, guilt, shame and pride, love and bliss. "Enlightenment" cannot be described in words because it is not bound by anything that can be thought. Thought binds and creates boundaries. For me, "enlightenment" is a very subtle, yet intensely exuberant TEMPERATURE. It is a feeling of warmth. It is a thermal image that permeates awareness. We have very few words to describe the widest spectrum of warmth. But it is this very warmth that we communicate. It is the essence of communication itself. My experience of Leo Gura is that he brings the spectrum of his heart's warmth into language. My experience of Leo is the experience of his heart's warmth emanating with magnificent hues and pastels of wonder over a panoramic vastness. It is a physical presence recorded in pixels and vibrations that resonates into the widest reaches of the heart's imagination: thermally. Satori, for me, is that intense focus on both one's own, others' and another's heart beat. And "enlightenment" is full spectrum satori on the Universe's Heart Beat.
-
Thank you, Serotoninluv! "Because we feel understood," yeah!, oMarcos! I believe "enlightenment" is a feeling of boundless warm hearted tenderness, throughout. ? i n f i n i t e h e a r t ? w a r m t ~ e ~ n ~ d ~ e ~ r ~ n ~ e ~ s ~ s ? I believe we are both spirits living in mortal bodies, and bodies living in immortal spirits. Both. And I believe that the Feeling Of Tenderness Is Nonduality. I believe that Love is primarily a Feeling because we are primarily organic, cellular creatures. I believe that the highest level of consciousness is empathy for self and other, self as other, and other as self, both in relationship to others and in relationship to our one self. I believe that meditation is the key to enlightenment, and that both enlightenment and meditation are a state of profound humility, wherein one embraces the infinite vulnerability of living in a mortal body, made up, entirely of Pure Sentience Vulnerability Tenderness Mortality Feeling I believe that awareness is a Feeling