My Path To Somewhere, I Hope...

[abrakamowse]

No questions ... just enjoying life. And when I say enjoy I mean suffering and happiness. Everything is just Ok.

Edited September 6, 2016 by abrakamowse

[99th_monkey]

And what is everything?

[abrakamowse]

@99th_monkey  Everything is whatever it is...

[abrakamowse]

This is everything!!!!

 

 

[abrakamowse]

[abrakamowse]

The ego's version of failure

The failure of ego is a given, but the way we RELATE to that failure is crucial. True understanding of ego starts with the simple observation that the ego makes a mess of practically everything. Duh! But even so, ego is hard-pressed to give up on itself. And consequently, as a general rule, human beings find failure to be more UPSETTING than ENLIGHTENING.

We tend to feel like victims when our attempts fail. For example, we try to follow some recommendation or achieve some goal, but when the attempt doesn't yield total success, we blame others, life, or God: "I tried so hard and it didn't work. Everyone's against me!" Or "Things never work. Life isn't fair!" To react with blame to our failures simply reflects unwillingness to accept the reality of failure, and to give up the ego that causes the failure.

Another of ego's survival strategies, when faith in ego starts to break down, is the tendency to construe our ego's failure as our personal failure. That's almost inevitable, because during the time of transition, we still strongly IDENTIFY with the ego. So we will think, "I am a failure." That thought leaves us too depressed to do effective battle with the ego.

Who we REALLY are cannot and will not fail. But enlightenment is the fundamental recognition that the person we THINK OF as "I" or "me" is ALWAYS failing, even when it thinks it succeeds. Enlightenment depends on the deep recognition that the ego-I is bound to fail ultimately, completely. That recognition is the ego's Undoing -- if it leads us to release our affinity for the ego, our identification with it, along with our tendency to live AS it.

 

More here:

http://www.soulprogress.com/html/ArticlesFolder/Articles/EnlightenmentFailure.shtml

Edited September 6, 2016 by abrakamowse

[abrakamowse]

Metaphysical meaning of I AM

I AM--Spiritual identity; the real or Christ Mind, of each individual. The I AM Being. God is I AM, and man, His offspring, is also I AM. I AM is the indwelling Lord of life, love, wisdom, and all the ideas eternally in Divine Mind.

The I AM is the metaphysical name of the spiritual self, as distinguished from the human self. One is governed by Spirit, the other by personal will. Christ and Jehovah are the scriptural names for spiritual I AM. Jesus called it the Father. I AM is eternal, without beginning or ending: the true spiritual man whom God made in His image and likeness.

The I AM has its being in heaven; its home is in the realm of God ideals. It is the center around which all the thoughts of man revolve. The narrow concept of the personal I AM should be led out into the consciousness of the great and only I AM. Man identifies himself with that to which he attaches his I AM, and whatever he identifies himself with, that he manifests. Hitch your I AM to the star of Christ, and infinite joy will follow as night the day.

I AM identity--As the will of God, man represents I AM identity. Individual consciousness is like an eddy in the ocean--all the elements that are found in the ocean are also found in the eddy, and every eddy may, in due course, receive and give forth all that is in the ocean. This is individual consciousness, freedom to act without dictation of any kind, selfhood without consciousness of cause, the power to make or break without limitation.

I AM, used adversely--Man seeking happiness through sense pleasure. This is sin (missing the mark), and the wages are pain, sickness, poverty, and death. Think I AM in harmony with God-Mind, and health, wealth, and harmony will be yours.

"I am the light of the world"--(John 8:12). Refers to Christ as the expresser of Truth in all its aspects.

Edited September 9, 2016 by abrakamowse

[abrakamowse]

One who is not a companion of myriad things has departed
the toils of materialism. The mind does not recognize the
mind, the eye does not see the eye; since there is no opposition,
when you see forms there are no forms there to be seen, and
when you hear sounds there are no sounds there to be heard. Is
this not departing the toils of materialism?
There is no particular pathway into it, no gap through which
to see it: Buddhism has no East or West, South or North; one
does not say, “You are the disciple, I am the teacher” If your own
self is clear and everything is It, when you visit a teacher you do
not see that there is a teacher; when you inquire of yourself, you
do not see that you have a self. When you read scripture, you do
not see that there is scripture there. When you eat, you do not
see that there is a meal there. When you sit and meditate, you
do not see that there is any sitting. You do not slip up in your
everyday tasks, yet you cannot lay hold of anything at all.
When you see in this way, are you not independent and free?

Extracts from:
Instant Zen by Foyen

[abrakamowse]

It is only when you realize life is taking you nowhere that it begins to have meaning. ~ Peter Ouspensky

[abrakamowse]

From the website access to insight:

 

The Buddha discovered that gaining release from samsara requires assigning to each of the Noble Truths a specific task: the first Noble Truth is to be comprehended; the second, abandoned; the third, realized; the fourth, developed. The full realization of the third Noble Truth paves the way for Awakening: the end of ignorance, craving, suffering, and kamma itself; the direct penetration to the transcendent freedom and supreme happiness that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha's teachings; the Unconditioned, the Deathless, Unbinding — Nibbana (Skt. Nirvana).

[abrakamowse]

“Make no mistake about it – enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.” 

–Adyashanti

[abrakamowse]

"I don't know anything."

-My imaginary self

[abrakamowse]

Nothing to do or say.

[abrakamowse]

Peace

[abrakamowse]

Self annihilation 

[abrakamowse]

Since it is God's nature not to be like anyone, we have to come to the state of being nothing in order to enter into the same nature that He is. [German sermon 7, trans M.O’C. Walshe] --- Meister Eckhart

[abrakamowse]

I am thinking in closing my self actualization journal.

 

There's no point to it, the journal is all about me, keeps reinforcing the idea of myself, me, I... etc...

There's still an I and that idea needs to go...

I will still check for interesting topics and participate but my journal will be closed.

 

Thanks for those who read and helped me in this pathless path.

[abrakamowse]

[abrakamowse]

[abrakamowse]

Every thought that appears or arises is false.