It's not clear to me that all I am is awareness

[nistake]

You understand it intellectually, but ultimately you can't figure this out with your mind. That's the beauty of it.

Meditation and self-inquiry are the best you can do.

[An young being]

5 hours ago, Shiva99 said:

Hahahahahha.

Nothing can prevent me from typing this, because it's already happening.

[Shiva99]

6 minutes ago, An young being said:

Nothing can prevent me from typing this, because it's already happening.

The free will you think you have can prevent it.

[An young being]

2 minutes ago, Shiva99 said:

The free will you think you have can prevent it.

The free will I think I have seems to have the ability to prevent it. And, thus making me believe in free will again, which is again not because of free will.

[VeganAwake]

11 minutes ago, An young being said:

The free will I think I have seems to have the ability to prevent it. And, thus making me believe in free will again, which is again not because of free will.

Like this ?

[An young being]

3 minutes ago, VeganAwake said:

Like this ?

 thank you! ( Just for fun though, still I don't know about free will, wanted to point out that just thinking about existence of free will drives people crazy)

[Someone here]

Just now, An young being said:

 thank you! ( Just for fun though, still I don't know about free will, wanted to point out that just thinking about existence of free will drives people crazy)

The concept of free will is self-contradictory. What does it mean for the will to be “free“?  Free from what? From causality?  If there is causality then it's determinism. determinism is really just the other word for causality. If there is no causality and stuff just happen ghostly with no reason then it's chaotic.. It's free but free from what? Free from freedom. It becomes a contradiction.  

[An young being]

16 minutes ago, Someone here said:

The concept of free will is self-contradictory. What does it mean for the will to be “free“?  Free from what? From causality?  If there is causality then it's determinism. determinism is really just the other word for causality. If there is no causality and stuff just happen ghostly with no reason then it's chaotic.. It's free but free from what? Free from freedom. It becomes a contradiction.  

You sound right, but here's what I think:

Everything happens randomly with no reason, in a micro level. But, now everything seems to be organised in a better way, because things which are not organised cease to exist. A good example is evolution, which should have resulted in all possibilities, but we are simply blind to the possibilities because the better organised possibilites are more probable to survive or exist than the other funny random possibilities.

When it comes to free will, in a micro level, it happens randomly  But we have evolved to such an extent on a macro level that they don't look random anymore. We think that what we want to do happens, but probably it's just random movement of molecules here and there causing those illusions. Science may be able to explain this very soon.

When it comes to life, the thought that we have free will matters. That helps us to have purpose, which may help us in our survival process. So, it's better to accept that free will exists and not think too much about it ( if we wish to have a smooth life ).

 

[VeganAwake]

 

 

1 hour ago, An young being said:

 thank you! ( Just for fun though, still I don't know about free will, wanted to point out that just thinking about existence of free will drives people crazy)

Love the honesty!!

Edited July 14, 2020 by VeganAwake

[Someone here]

@An young being don't think about a pink elephant.. 

If you did.. Free will debunked. 

If you didn't.. Free will debunked!! 

[Nak Khid]

19 hours ago, FredFred said:

It may be one of the most repeated concepts in spirituality, yet I somehow don't think I get it?

Of course I can pause for a second and see that I am aware of my experience. I can also be aware that I am aware. But it's not clear to me that I am only awareness.

If all I am is awareness, how come it feels like I'm in control so much? I can move my hand, I can walk this way, run that way, say particular words in a particular order, etc. I just don't get it!

There's also things I can't do, like make my mind stop, instantly get rid of my addictions, make emotions arise/dissolve at will, etc. But I don't know how this fits in all of that.

Does this issue need an awakening experience to be resolved? Any help on this? Thanks!

 

19 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@FredFred Well, then, you're shit out of luck cause there's nothing but awareness.

Name something else.

 

18 hours ago, FredFred said:

My notebook

I'm aware of a notebook, but I still don't get how the notebook is made out of awareness.

Tbh I don't know anything, this is all belief and no experience for me at this point.

More work to do for me

 

You touch a notebook and flip the pages you get sensory signals which then gives you the impression that the object is a notebook
because your eyes sees it, your hands feel it and your ears hear an expected sound as the pages are being flipped

So what is considered to be real is things you have become familiar with affecting your senses in a consistent way

Suppose you are looking at video or film for the first time in your life.   You see what looks like a notebook but you touch the screen and the sensory response to anything you see there is a hard piece of glass. 

But there is an idea being proposed that the whole thing is an illusion, the sense experiences are also all in your mind and no more real than the video of the notebook,  the look of the notebook sitting in your lap, the feel of the paper in your hands is an illusion 
And then a video of the notebook is just another illusion of a different type.  

However this is not how we live in the world.   We use a word "real"  to mean something that gives us a predictable feeling. 

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Nak Khid

[Jay Ray]

@FredFred

 

think about it like this,

Imagine you live in a Lego world. You are a Lego man and everything you have ever seen is made of Lego's. You are made of Legos, your car and house is made of Lego's and so are all of your friends as well as every possession that you own.

now lets say that one of your Lego friends says "wait, that over there is a house, not Lego's, you see it has such and such dualistic qualities, therefore a house exists....it is a house. end of story" 

no, that over there is not a house, it is Lego's that you call a house.  Another person my disagree that it is a house. however disagreement that it is a house doesn't take away from the fact that it is made of Lego's.

but really all that there is is Lego's in this example. 

that same is true of consciousness. There isn't "a notebook" there is awareness that has been named "notebook", someone may see it differently or call it something else. However the awareness of it still is there and does not need a name.

Without these names for things, it would seriously impede human survival, If you didn't know the difference between "food" and "poison" this would be fatal, but both are made of the same thing, consciousness. 

Lego food and Lego poison are both make of the same thing.

 

I hope this metaphor helps.