Leo, is seeking to understand the truth based on fear?

[SamC]

My psychologist said 2 weeks ago that the reason why I try to understand life ia to find a solution to my problems and that I therefor should stop to overanalyze everything cause it creates more anxiety.

This led me to an existential crisis, cause trying to understand is basically my bread and butter in life. My whole life purpose, my values and identity revolves around UNDERSTANDING... 

I am so confused. I can't just throw out my whole identity.. or well I can but I dont think I am ready for that. I understand that I later need to question everything in order to get to the truth, but why then even try to understand anything at all. Why actualized.org? Why try to understand science?  Why to do anything? And even more, if I then instead just should live in the present and let go of trying to understand... what's up with my life purpose of trying to understand? What's up with the meaning that I created in life? I don't have anything to anquer my life too.. which is fine, but am I really ready to let go of all meaning? If I don't try to understand I feel like I repress my identity.

Wow, I am so confused.. but I kinda like the mindfuck aswell. I would love some guidence though.. What is your take on this? @Leo Gura

[Claymoree]

If understanding is what you pursue, you must understand no matter what you get into , there is place to return to, no matter how confusing it gets.

 

 

[Leo Gura]

You can pursue understanding, but it's a counter-intuitive pursuit where you must surrender dualistic and verbal explanations.

The ultimate understanding of reality is through not-knowing, being, and consciousness.

You can still pursue relative understanding though. Just realize that all verbal understanding is limited, partial, and finite.

It all depends on what your goals are. If your goal is the ultimate truth, then you're gonna have to grapple with not-knowing a lot. And that will feel paradoxical.

[Nahm]

39 minutes ago, SamC said:

My psychologist said 2 weeks ago that the reason why I try to understand life ia to find a solution to my problems and that I therefor should stop to overanalyze everything cause it creates more anxiety.

This led me to an existential crisis, cause trying to understand is basically my bread and butter in life. My whole life purpose, my values and identity revolves around UNDERSTANDING... 

I’d listen to the advice of your psychologist. If trying is your bread & butter, understanding is your vehicle to anxiety, suffering, ruminating, procrastination & avoidance. Understanding is but an illusory explanation & justification of an apparent means, not a journey, destination or what could be in sentiment referred to as ‘truly living’. This is the equivalent of unknowingly making the path your destination, and ‘looping’ without creating anything you want to be creating. The “existential crisis” is more likely the emotional recognition of this short sidedness when you were told this, which is likely in part the feeling-realization of the extent you’ve identified with understanding. No one gets off the carrousel of thinking, and it is chalked full of the unused bodies of understanders. Life is understood fully lived.

[SamC]

 

37 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You can pursue understanding, but it's a counter-intuitive pursuit where you must surrender dualistic and verbal explanations.

The ultimate understanding of reality is through not-knowing, being, and consciousness.

You can still pursue relative understanding though. Just realize that all verbal understanding is limited, partial, and finite.

It all depends on what your goals are. If your goal is the ultimate truth, then you're gonna have to grapple with not-knowing a lot. And that will feel paradoxical.

Yeah I think I get it now. Conciousness is the ultimate understanding. When I " understand" I really don't understand because it doesn't take to account " reality " as a whole. It's kinda like  the problem with science in some weird way.

What about my personality of being a philosopher though? I know you also are like that.. is that based on fear ( ego) or just authentic personality preferences? Is that an expression of who you are or is it just Ego? I mean Echart and Sadgurhu doesn't seem to be like you in that sense. Why is that? @Leo Gura

[Gesundheit]

The thing is that you're prioritizing the word of an authority that has no connection whatsoever to your inner world, over your word. But only you can know your desires and emotions.

[SamC]

2 hours ago, Claymoree said:

If understanding is what you pursue, you must understand no matter what you get into , there is place to return to, no matter how confusing it gets.

 

 

Yeah conciosness

[SamC]

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

I’d listen to the advice of your psychologist. If trying is your bread & butter, understanding is your vehicle to anxiety, suffering, ruminating, procrastination & avoidance. Understanding is but an illusory explanation & justification of an apparent means, not a journey, destination or what could be in sentiment referred to as ‘truly living’. This is the equivalent of unknowingly making the path your destination, and ‘looping’ without creating anything you want to be creating. The “existential crisis” is more likely the emotional recognition of this short sidedness when you were told this, which is likely in part the feeling-realization of the extent you’ve identified with understanding. No one gets off the carrousel of thinking, and it is chalked full of the unused bodies of understanders. Life is understood fully lived.

Amen. Yeah, I think I got it. Understanding becomes a distraction to being. My existsntial crisis was a dark night of the soul kind of deal I Think. My identity and meaning making got shredded. It's still kinda scary though

Edited October 30, 2020 by SamC

[Rilles]

1 hour ago, Gesundheit said:

The thing is that you're prioritizing the word of an authority that has no connection whatsoever to your inner world, over your word. But only you can know your desires and emotions.

This is what I would say too. 

[SamC]

1 hour ago, Gesundheit said:

The thing is that you're prioritizing the word of an authority that has no connection whatsoever to your inner world, over your word. But only you can know your desires and emotions.

Yeah but he still might be on to something. Being might be the new understanding

Edited October 30, 2020 by SamC

[SamC]

3 minutes ago, Rilles said:

This is what I would say too. 

Yeah I thought so aswell. I was angry at him at first but I think he is onto something. I try to manipulate reality instead of being in reality.

[Rajneeshpuram]

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

I’d listen to the advice of your psychologist. If trying is your bread & butter, understanding is your vehicle to anxiety, suffering, ruminating, procrastination & avoidance. Understanding is but an illusory explanation & justification of an apparent means, not a journey, destination or what could be in sentiment referred to as ‘truly living’. This is the equivalent of unknowingly making the path your destination, and ‘looping’ without creating anything you want to be creating. The “existential crisis” is more likely the emotional recognition of this short sidedness when you were told this, which is likely in part the feeling-realization of the extent you’ve identified with understanding. No one gets off the carrousel of thinking, and it is chalked full of the unused bodies of understanders. Life is understood fully lived.

His psychologist fails at understanding that the innate curiosity and hunger of knowledge is beyond psychology. Some people is satisfied by mainstream dogmas, while others dont have enough and need to go to the root, or down the rabbit hole.

This seeking of understanding is determined by so many factors like genetics, personality, the way the brain is wired, epigenetics... that we cannot say to a curious guy, hey stop seeking because it creates you anxiety and unhappiness. Its like supressing the natural insctinct of reproduction or need for food, we cannot say hey ignore it.

Without this individuals we would be in stone ages.

 

[Nahm]

50 minutes ago, SamC said:

Amen. Yeah, I think I got it. Understanding becomes a distraction to being. My existsntial crisis was a dark night of the soul kind of deal I Think. My identity and meaning making got shredded. It's still kinda scary though

Yep & and...that ‘ still kinda scary though ‘ is meat of understanding on the bone of samadhi. Understanding is not a distraction to being, understanding is quite literally being. Like the apparent words in a book are literally the book and there is no book, understanding is your own illusion of yourself, and there is no self. Meditation is for letting monkey mind go, not for quitting and making a life out of intellectualizing. Unless of course, that is the life you most desire & dream of. Peace & understanding are two sides of the same coin, like intelligence & creativity. Thus your identity & meaning making can not have been shredded, because they only stood on the illusory foundation of understanding, and so there is no cause to fret, sans contextualizing the monkey mind such that it feeds separation via superiority. You were never not you, and you were never not creating of you. If today is of woe, that is still the story, but in any given being you can create the story you want. 

[Nahm]

@Rajneeshpuram

That’s a good point. 

5 minutes ago, Rajneeshpuram said:

hey stop seeking because it creates you anxiety and unhappiness.

How are you creating anxiety & unhappiness then? 

[SamC]

32 minutes ago, Rajneeshpuram said:

His psychologist fails at understanding that the innate curiosity and hunger of knowledge is beyond psychology. Some people is satisfied by mainstream dogmas, while others dont have enough and need to go to the root, or down the rabbit hole.

This seeking of understanding is determined by so many factors like genetics, personality, the way the brain is wired, epigenetics... that we cannot say to a curious guy, hey stop seeking because it creates you anxiety and unhappiness. Its like supressing the natural insctinct of reproduction or need for food, we cannot say hey ignore it.

Without this individuals we would be in stone ages.

 

I agree but maybe it's not black and White. Maybe he is right in one perspective but right in another 

[wavydude]

@Nahm

But isn't understanding something a way to resolve mind's conflict ? Like when you understand some mechanism (weather psychological or other) you can drop it and be free or act better according to your understanding. Isn't it one way to quite the mind ?

[Gesundheit]

55 minutes ago, SamC said:

Yeah but he still might be on to something. Being might be the new understanding

He might or might not be. But actually you're the one deciding that, whether consciously or not.

If you ask for my opinion, I would certainly agree with your psychologist because he's an expert and knows you in person. And because what he says sounds correct from my current understanding. But hey, you still know yourself better.

[Nahm]

@wavydude

Maybe give some specific examples if you have some and are interested.

[wavydude]

@Nahm Well let's take this imaginary scenario. Let's assume my sister went into my room and smashed my laptop with a hammer. I could just disregard it and let it go but if it still bothered me in the back of my mind I could confront her and If she's honest I would learn her motives and there for making letting it go much easier and whole situation more "complete" it would also be a valuable learning experience as insight into workings of human behaviours  

[SamC]

1 hour ago, Gesundheit said:

He might or might not be. But actually you're the one deciding that, whether consciously or not.

If you ask for my opinion, I would certainly agree with your psychologist because he's an expert and knows you in person. And because what he says sounds correct from my current understanding. But hey, you still know yourself better.

Yes

1 hour ago, Nahm said:

@Rajneeshpuram

That’s a good point. 

How are you creating anxiety & unhappiness then? 

By trying to understand in order to create a sense of stability, meaning and control.