The difference between my family members and a stranger is completely imaginary.

[Javfly33]

This blows my mind. Is something to conceptually tell yourself they are all human beings, but another to directly experience the sameness.

I don´t know about you guys but in my mind, it always have felt as my family members are 'one type of people' and rest of the world (strangers) are another type of people.

Like my family members are more 'me', or more 'close to me', or more 'life like me'.

But no. My closest family members are the same 'life' and awareness as a stranger from Mongolia I might meet tomorrow. 

Again, is something to conceptually tell yourself and another to experience.

1. While I was tripping on mushrooms I saw some brothers playing in the street and I become conscious the movements and joy of their behaviour was exactly the same as my two cousins. I became directly conscious the Life and Intelligence that were in those two brothers was exactly the same as my cousins. EXACTLY. I couldn´t differenciate between those two brothers and my two cousins. 
2. The same has happened recently on a hiking trip I went, I've been talking to some people from countries far away from mine but at one point in the hiking trip I became mesmerised looking at this person and I was so conscious this person was made of the same material of my aunt, for example. It was the same. Life, consciousness, Being. 

This is it. When the imaginary and nonsensical differences that your mind constructing starts breaking you know you are going towards dissolution and stable non duality. This is the work needed. To completely break all differences and dualities. 

I have to get to a point where I visit Gaza Strip and I become directly conscious is the same 'place' as my livings room. No matter what I go, no matter who I talk to, is all God. Is all Life. Is all Being. Is all Creator.

[Ishanga]

Where did the labels "Family Members" and "Strangers" come from, how do You know about these labels?

We were taught about them right? So all of this stuff, is taught to us, plus usually with Family Members you have a tribal sort of relationship, you see them much more in your life than strangers, so brain circuits are created that give You some sort of special feeling towards them vs Strangers. Plus the Brain is wired for survival and negativity more so than positive traits and outlooks, with strangers there is the unknown, so that in a way means danger... All of this is on the Intellectual and Egoic side of things, its needed on a certain level but in absolute terms it means nothing!

[Felliks]

Agree, but to be frank, genetics play a part in this story.

[Dazgwny]

Wait until you see no difference between a dog shit and your cousins. Now that will blow your mind 😂

[Leo Gura]

Yes, however there is an interesting counter-point: the facial recogniton of your mother and father are hardcoded into special regions of your brain. If these regions are damged then they will start to feel like stragners to you.

So while what you say is true at the existential level, there is a sense in which your brain/mind actually treats family differently than strangers at the hardware level. So in practice it will be very hard for you to regard them equally.

It's sorta like sex. Obviously your sexual preferences are arbitrary at the existential level, but you get very turned on by certain images over others, and that's not something you're gonna change. Sex is hard-coded into you.

Edited April 3 by Leo Gura

[StarStruck]

15 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Yes, however there is an interesting counter-point: the facial recogniton of your mother and father are hardcoded into special regions of your brain. If these regions are damged then they will start to feel like stragners to you.

So while what you say is true at the existential level, there is a sense in which your brain/mind actually treats family differently than strangers at the hardware level. So in practice it will be very hard for you to regard them equally.

It's sorta like sex. Obviously your sexual preferences are arbitrary at the existential level, but you get very turned on by certain images over others, and that's not something you're gonna change. Sex is hard-coded into you.

Brain is imaginary so there is nothing to encode according to your metaphysics 

[Razard86]

5 minutes ago, StarStruck said:

Brain is imaginary so there is nothing to encode according to your metaphysics 

Sigh^^^^^everything is imaginary, so since your point is imaginary.....it negates the point you were trying to make. 

In a dream at night the room you can't leave is imaginary but it doesn't mean that if those walls don't hold up that the nightmare monster may not torture you. Hell is also imaginary, but it doesn't mean you cannot dream up a personal Hell for you to go through.

Edited April 3 by Razard86

[Leo Gura]

14 minutes ago, StarStruck said:

Brain is imaginary so there is nothing to encode according to your metaphysics 

You know my view is much more nuanced than that.

[Dauntment]

I actually thought something similar last night (and even shed tears over it)

"Death".

It is "extremely normal" (pretty much expected) to cry over the loss of a close one. Right?

Yes, the inverse is the case for strangers; Example case: Every single person ("stranger", acquaintance , etc.) that you met and will NEVER see again...may as well be dead to you.

[strangelooper]

The thing about imagination is that you can imagine rules and systems, so unfortunately if the imagination of the systems are in play nothing you can do about it.

[James123]

6 hours ago, Javfly33 said:

This blows my mind. Is something to conceptually tell yourself they are all human beings, but another to directly experience the sameness.

I don´t know about you guys but in my mind, it always have felt as my family members are 'one type of people' and rest of the world (strangers) are another type of people.

Like my family members are more 'me', or more 'close to me', or more 'life like me'.

But no. My closest family members are the same 'life' and awareness as a stranger from Mongolia I might meet tomorrow. 

Again, is something to conceptually tell yourself and another to experience.

1. While I was tripping on mushrooms I saw some brothers playing in the street and I become conscious the movements and joy of their behaviour was exactly the same as my two cousins. I became directly conscious the Life and Intelligence that were in those two brothers was exactly the same as my cousins. EXACTLY. I couldn´t differenciate between those two brothers and my two cousins. 
2. The same has happened recently on a hiking trip I went, I've been talking to some people from countries far away from mine but at one point in the hiking trip I became mesmerised looking at this person and I was so conscious this person was made of the same material of my aunt, for example. It was the same. Life, consciousness, Being. 

This is it. When the imaginary and nonsensical differences that your mind constructing starts breaking you know you are going towards dissolution and stable non duality. This is the work needed. To completely break all differences and dualities. 

I have to get to a point where I visit Gaza Strip and I become directly conscious is the same 'place' as my livings room. No matter what I go, no matter who I talk to, is all God. Is all Life. Is all Being. Is all Creator.

What is a creator? And creates what?

[gettoefl]

the whole practice is to look at another and see the same thing

first you have to activate your own light through meditation then go outside and see that light beyond the other's appearance

easy to write, lifetimes to get

Quote

" There is a light which this world cannot give. Yet YOU can give it, as it was given you. And as you give it, it shines forth to call you from the world and follow it. For this light will attract you as nothing in this world can do. And you will lay aside the world and find another. This other world is bright with love which YOU have given it. And here will everything remind you of your Father and his Holy Son. Light is unlimited, and spreads across this world in quiet joy. All those you brought with you will shine on you, and you will shine on them in gratitude because they brought you here. Your light will join with theirs in power so compelling that it will draw the others out of darkness as you look on them. "

 

Edited April 3 by gettoefl

[Princess Arabia]

6 hours ago, Ishanga said:

that give You some sort of special feeling towards them vs Strangers.

I don't know about this. What about mothers who abandoned their kids and still feel that special bond. Or people who aren't there anymore but you still feel close to them or even just meeting a stranger for the first time (e.g man/woman, but not limited to) and we feel a certain attraction. Instantaneous attraction, or even the opposite,

[Princess Arabia]

1 hour ago, gettoefl said:

And here will everything remind you of your Father and his Holy Son.

This kind of reminds me of somethings I wrote in my thread about "why men are attracted to hot women". The beauty reminds them of the beauty of God.

[Schizophonia]

What does it change ?