What does the internet give me? A Deeper look into the Online World

[Solace]

Yet another excerpt from my journal. I feel this question is a important one to consider, so we can use the internet from our hearts, rather than our egos as many spiritual beginners may fall into. Sending blessings to everyone here, love you guys  

Is there really a benefit to be on the internet anymore? At the start of my journey, and up until a few weeks ago It was essential in getting me to dedicate to my practices. Pluto (a forum member) made me believe in myself, and to truly do the inner work I had for 3 months put off. There are teachers too who have inspired me on the deepest levels, and without them, I would be at University, become an Engineering Scientist so I could 'fit in' to society and not 'waste my potential' (as I am very intellectual, and could ace it if I went). And now, because of the miracle of the internet, where I watched enlightened masters, all kinds of self-help material, and more in my bedroom I was taught how to find truth in a world of suffering. The internet is the one place where the cabal/powers that be do not have full control over, so that Truth can actually be given to the masses, rather than hidden by a sea of brainwashing that ultimately is designed to contradict the truth so that people will react negatively against it when they hear of it. For example, whence telling my Grandfather about how the artificial light being emitted from the TV at 60hz was programming his subconscious mind to a lower frequency he dismissed it, I'm now known to him as an extremist and someone who is "not normal". That was the universe telling me, Solace, help yourself first in order to help others; give knowledge freely to those who ask but always work on yourself to be an example rather than a prophet. Anyway, back to the internet. I have learnt so many astonishing things that have changed the way I live my entire life. But the thing is, the internet is but a medium for the Truth, The Truth makes it amazing, however, without such a quality it would merely be another distraction from the Truth. And you can find Truth inside that is much more profound. This is because you can conceptually understand Truth by reading it, but there are many more levels of comprehension, and after the first year or two of dabbling in practices and gathering all of this information on the internet to realign your belief system with reality, it becomes apparent that you no longer need the internet, for you have all of the information you need to experience Truth on an existential level, on a being level. Let's explore this some more. I can read on the internet that lucid dreaming is real versus actually lucid dreaming at night. One is conceptual, one is existential. Both are essential, unless you accidently lucid dream and backwards engineer how you did it! Meditation too; I can read about all of the different states of meditation or I can actually experience the different states by swapping the hours I spend on the internet for practice. And this is my main point. For the newcomer 98% of what he/she will read on the internet is complete BS, and without any guidance, he/she could easily cause more suffering in their lives. Only 2% will be beneficial. In addition, everyone on the internet thinks that their method to enlightenment on the internet is the "most effective" as it worked for them, but how do you really know how deep of a master they are? Even people like Mooji, Alan Watts, Rupert Spira; you have to put a lot of trust in them that what they say is the Truth. 

So in effect, the internet is a journey that all modern enlightenment seekers will embark upon. It could lead you down decades of dead ends if for once you believe in a teacher, instead of believing in your heart. It can last a few months too; you play for as long as you want. But the main lesson the internet provides, and the Truth, is to finally listen to your heart, instead of what any teacher tells you. Your heart is your eternal compass, and it will not lead you astray, most people however are out of touch with feeling their hearts, and instead, use their minds to "rationally" and "logically" come to conclusions based on the "facts" that that individual has subscribed to. My advice is to have no subscriptions, and never believe what anyone says here! This is because only you know what is true for you, others will never ever know what is true for you. Some practices are more universal than others, such as meditation (or "the releasing of thoughts as I like to put it") but some stuff I've tried that has promised so much has been downright ineffective, such as positive thinking. That is a lesson we will all have to learn: that we are all unique, we are all so special, and have different strengths, which means you may be more suited for one technique over another. Of course the most important thing is to practice a technique, and not use this as an excuse to not practice anything, and the more well known and ancient techniques are a good place to start. This is why the best teachers, if there is such a thing, are the ones who tell you to feel into your heart and see if this resonates with you. Does this meditation spark a sense of excitement in my heart, or am I in a deep state of fear? Fear meaning, don't follow this path right now. You can also have fear in your gut region which is a lower kind of fear, and it's coming from a conflict between what your social conditioning believes and the practice at hand. That fear can be ignored.

Coming onto the internet with this mind set, that I am here to find a teacher that I resonate with the most in my heart (with no intentions to believe him/her but simply to listen to my hearts reaction to their words) will lead you in the right direction. And again, once you have followed the teachers you resonate with for a few months or years, and are finding long term benefits after months of practice, it is time to move on and use the extra time you would use on the internet to gain "more wisdom" to practice. I remember when I was talking to Gabe Salomon, at the end I said to him, "I resonate so much with what you are saying about love; how loving my heart is the fastest way to enlightenment. I feel like all of my questions are answered so I will make sure to not search for more wisdom as to lead me further into confusion!". The ego is afraid of 'missing out' on all of these insights into getting better at dating, or finding a "better" technique and once we come to a certain level of clarity, it seeks to destroy it to confirm the belief that it is "missing out" on something. And after the talk with Gabe I made the mistake of going back on the internet, and I became very confused until I stuck with two teachers I liked, and finally resolved the conflict between their teachings so that I could finally detach myself from searching for more information from that point of view. Now I look at information on the web for enjoyment (or is it secretly escapism? I will explain below), I'm no longer consciously trying to find a missing puzzle piece, I use it solely for motivation now when I can find the right content. 

But even then it leads me back to the question: What does the internet give me right now every time I'm on it? And if I'm really honest, when I feel into my heart, most of the time I'm still very subtly (subconsciously) wanting to collect insights. It's a slight addiction to knowledge that I have. But is it really an addiction to knowledge? Is there something deeper that that lies unresolved and unacknowledged each time I "Gather information". I started to experiment with this and I've found that each time I place the centre of awareness in my heart rather than my head like yours is, it creates a impulse to eat food, or go on here. So it is not an addiction to knowledge. It is an avoidance of emotions. As I have said, we came to this planet to clear our karma/cellular memories/emotions by feeling our emotions. Observe most of what you do in your daily life is an avoidance of feeling your heart. Most of your thoughts distract you from your heart. What happens when I open my laptop? My awareness goes straight to my head (aside from watching Matt Kahn, or writing this!) which is not a coincidence. Why do we eat 3-5 times a day when we only need to eat once? Emotions. Our social conditionings main objective is to keep us lost in our thoughts, or the trivial matters of everyday life (which is also a thought), so we are away from feeling. As I hinted, some content online can bring you closer to your heart like a good song, or a good teacher. And so I suggest that any spiritual seeker thus listens to their heart on the web. Feel the emotions of discontent inside you when you mindlessly browse articles, they are there. And search for love in it's replacement, that you feel after watching something truly inspiring until you no longer need the internet at all to keep evolving, for the internet only takes you so far until the wonders of embodying the information you've learnt become more important. As a spiritual teacher (Leo, paraphrasing) said, "Read enough books until they convince you enough to practice, then you no longer need books". All the knowledge you need is found in the practice, not in the text.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Solace

[Solace]

I just read over this again. I didn’t know how powerful this was at the time ? Thank you for your time and words of wisdom, and desire to help others so much. It will all come back around.

[cirkussmile]

Nice and honest reflections.

❤️