How is reality being created on the fly if you are God cosplaying as a finite being?

[Inliytened1]

11 minutes ago, Khan 0 said:

Yea i got what you mean. But i am asking is, for instance, you have never learned anything (god, infinite, enlightenment, you) would you be, as before birth? 

Yes you are God so in that sense you are already enlightened - but your not in the sense that you are not conscious of it.

[Khan 0]

4 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

Yes you are God so in that sense you are already enlightened - but your not in the sense that you are not conscious of it.

If i am already enlightened with not knowing, saying that i am infinite or god is identical. Because i am already what i am.

[Inliytened1]

@Khan 0 yes that's why i said you are already enlightened.   Yet telling a student this isn't really going to help him if he hasn't become conscious of it directly for himself

 

[Khan 0]

16 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

@Khan 0 yes that's why i said you are already enlightened.   Yet telling a student this isn't really going to help him if he hasn't become conscious of it directly for himself

 

So if word of infinite, finite, not knowing is identical, enlightenment has nothing to do with infinite, creation, god or finite. 

[Inliytened1]

18 minutes ago, Khan 0 said:

So if word of infinite, finite, not knowing is identical, enlightenment has nothing to do with infinite, creation, god or finite. 

Enlightenment to me is the moment Infinity/God, after getting lost in its own mind, has the realization that it is in fact God. Small self drops.  You have talked about it in some of your posts.  

[Khan 0]

13 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

Enlightenment to me is the moment Infinity/God, after getting lost in its own mind, has the realization that it is in fact God. Small self drops.  You have talked about it in some of your posts.  

Great. Thanks for the conversation.

[softlyblossoming]

20 minutes ago, Inliytened1 said:

42 minutes ago, Khan 0 said:

So if word of infinite, finite, not knowing is identical, enlightenment has nothing to do with infinite, creation, god or finite. 

Enlightenment to me is the moment Infinity/God, after getting lost in its own mind, has the realization that it is in fact God. Small self drops.  You have talked about it in some of your posts.  

@Inliytened1 I expect that I have already had this realization on an intellectual level. When I do self inquiry, should I just notice anything the small self 'does' and ask myself "who is observing this doing?"

[softlyblossoming]

21 hours ago, Matthew85 said:

@softlyblossoming One useful way to identify them is to look at your life. What we most strongly believe, assume and expect will be reflected in our life. 

21 hours ago, softlyblossoming said:

I usually just try to ignore limiting beliefs until they go away because I'm a lazy Buddhist hahaha.

Yes, this works. By not giving them energy they will naturally dissipate. You still need to adopt the new belief's and state though to experience them. 

@Matthew85 Incredibly clear answer. Amazingly straight-forward advice. Thank you so much for sharing. In the interest of translating my 'actions' into my 'beliefs', would you mind if I gave you a few examples of the actions often at the forefront of my attention, and you help me see what are the limiting beliefs sourcing them?

• I always stay up too late and never go to bed at a regular time.
• I don't pursue higher education and I work for barely above minimum wage.
• I spend almost all of my free time trying to expend the minimum effort possible to become enlightened as soon as possible, but without using psychedelics to do it (illegal) by listening to, taking notes of and conversing with enlightenment teachers.
• My current spiritual practice is to deny the automatic labelling/believing of any sensations as anything but the one quality I wish to see everywhere I look and to embody through-and-through — "happily befriending" — hence, I do not allow any sensations of suffering to arise by immediately denying their reality as anything but the adorable ever-deepening happy friendship between us; and then, when the Self does anything (aka happily befriend itself non-stop), to ask myself "who is observing happily befriending?" and happily befriend how it is that I know that "I am"; in other-words, to happily befriend the knowing of how it is that I know that I am observing happily befriending. I do this whenever I remember, ideally around the clock. I try to use the minimal effort I can so that I never stop practicing due to burn-out.

The first draft I wrote of the first half of my spiritual practice was shared here, in the style of my self-talk when I am frustratedly depressed, if you'd like to take a look at it or give me any advice on how to make it more effective for my goal which is to feel good now, embody my highest value and one true lifelong dream of being friends with everyone, as well as 'achieve' spiritual enlightenment ASAP.

@The0Self Did I understand good, your nobleship? 

@Inliytened1 W-what do you think of my p-practice? Am I gonna wake up? D-do I need to sleep gooder to g-g-get a-a-awoke?! 

Edited January 30, 2022 by softlyblossoming
grammar wanted a swag out

[Matthew85]

@softlyblossoming

I always stay up too late and never go to bed at a regular time.

There may not be any limiting belief's associated with this, it may just be your preference. Only you would know. Now, if you have thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late" or "I should be waking up early every day" you could be creating limitations around this behavior. It's not the behavior itself, it's the thoughts you hold about the behavior that matter. 

I don't pursue higher education and I work for barely above minimum wage.

What are your belief's about higher education? Perhaps it isn't necessary for your goals. Why do you work for barely above minimum wage? Do you feel this is all you are capable of receiving? 

I spend almost all of my free time trying to expend the minimum effort possible to become enlightened as soon as possible, but without using psychedelics to do it (illegal) by listening to, taking notes of and conversing with enlightenment teachers.

Once again there aren't necessarily any limiting belief's in this action. Why does becoming enlightened have to be hard work? 

My current spiritual practice is to deny the automatic labelling/believing of any sensations as anything but the one quality I wish to see everywhere I look and to embody through-and-through — "happily befriending" — hence, I do not allow any sensations of suffering to arise by immediately denying their reality as anything but the adorable ever-deepening happy friendship between us; and then, when the Self does anything (aka happily befriend itself non-stop), to ask myself "who is observing happily befriending?" and happily befriend how it is that I know that "I am"; in other-words, to happily befriend the knowing of how it is that I know that I am observing happily befriending. I do this whenever I remember, ideally around the clock. I try to use the minimal effort I can so that I never stop practicing due to burn-out.

I would suggest you try not denying. When you are denying, you are resisting. Allow it to be what it is. Let go of your fear to feel any suffering or negative emotions. Try to release any judgments you have about what you are observing. By doing this you will eventually be able to observe with more neutrality rather than denying or suppressing their existence. 

Another suggestion that will help you identify your belief's is to write out your most ideal life. If you could have your most ideal life in all aspects, what would that look like? Once you do that, ask yourself. Do I feel this is possible for me? If not, why? This will show you the belief's you currently hold about what is possible for you. 

 

[softlyblossoming]

6 minutes ago, Matthew85 said:

There may not be any limiting belief's associated with this, it may just be your preference. Only you would know. Now, if you have thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late" or "I should be waking up early every day" you could be creating limitations around this behavior. It's not the behavior itself, it's the thoughts you hold about the behavior that matter. 

@Matthew85 Thank you, this helped me to get a lot more clarity about what limiting beliefs are and how to overcome them.

1. If I stop thinking thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late", does that count as fixing the problem?

7 minutes ago, Matthew85 said:

What are your belief's about higher education? Perhaps it isn't necessary for your goals. Why do you work for barely above minimum wage? Do you feel this is all you are capable of receiving? 

Yes, I feel this is all I'm capable of receiving because no where that pays more hired me during my job search. My only important goals are really just enlightenment, to be happy now, and for people to like me.

9 minutes ago, Matthew85 said:

Let go of your fear to feel any suffering or negative emotions. Try to release any judgments you have about what you are observing.

2. I tried this for several hours last week, but the negative emotions didn't get better, they just got worse over time. Fully feeling my emotions without trying to change them right now is a one way ticket to intense suffering, for me.

3. Isn't denying just the combination of letting go and replacing at the same time?

16 minutes ago, Matthew85 said:

Try to release any judgments you have about what you are observing. By doing this you will eventually be able to observe with more neutrality rather than denying or suppressing their existence. 

4. Isn't that just defaulting to my automatic judgements (as opposed to consciously selecting a judgement that would be more conducive to feeling benevolent emotions and thinking benevolent thoughts)?

21 minutes ago, Matthew85 said:

Another suggestion that will help you identify your belief's is to write out your most ideal life. If you could have your most ideal life in all aspects, what would that look like? Once you do that, ask yourself. Do I feel this is possible for me? If not, why? This will show you the belief's you currently hold about what is possible for you. 

I know it's possible, so I will adjust the instructions to "do I feel this is easy for me?" to reveal the limiting beliefs. Thank you again for all your help, Matthew, I'm gonna do that exercise now .

[Matthew85]

@softlyblossoming

7 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

1. If I stop thinking thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late", does that count as fixing the problem?

Yes. Get rid of any negative judgments about staying up late. 

8 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

Yes, I feel this is all I'm capable of receiving because no where that pays more hired me during my job search.

If this is the current belief you hold, it will continue to be your experience until a different belief becomes more dominant. 

 

12 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

My only important goals are really just enlightenment, to be happy now,

This is an excellent goal to have! Continue to seek joy in as many things as you can. 

13 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

and for people to like me.

Do you like you?

15 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

2. I tried this for several hours last week, but the negative emotions didn't get better, they just got worse over time. Fully feeling my emotions without trying to change them right now is a one way ticket to intense suffering, for me.

I can only share my personal experience. Suppressing or resisting negative emotions didn't work for me. I could get temporary relief, but they would keep bubbling up. Feeling, releasing and letting go of judgment is what gave me lasting relief. 

20 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

3. Isn't denying just the combination of letting go and replacing at the same time?

It depends. When you are denying, are having a negative judgment about it? Or are you allowing it to be what it is? 

23 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

4. Isn't that just defaulting to my automatic judgements (as opposed to consciously selecting a judgement that would be more conducive to feeling benevolent emotions and thinking benevolent thoughts)?

The goal is to get to place of neutrality. If you feel you need to have benevolent thoughts about something, you are still saying there is something wrong with it as it is. 

26 minutes ago, softlyblossoming said:

I know it's possible, so I will adjust the instructions to "do I feel this is easy for me?" to reveal the limiting beliefs. Thank you again for all your help, Matthew, I'm gonna do that exercise now .

You're welcome!  

[softlyblossoming]

@Matthew85 Thank you, man. That's really helpful. I don't have anything more to ask, but just as an update I am generally following what you've suggested, despite the intense hopelessness of swallowing so many bitter pills and, I guess, just of certain times on this path. As depressing and brutalizing as it is, I can't help but feel it is to some degree healthy for me, at this time, to accept painful things. What you've said really resonates with me and it seems intuitively like these are very accurate observations of how the mind, and really this whole thing, works.

 

On 30/01/2022 at 8:47 PM, Matthew85 said:

On 30/01/2022 at 8:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

If I stop thinking thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late", does that count as fixing the problem?

Yes. Get rid of any negative judgments about staying up late. 

Interesting how when society views a limiting belief as mental health promoting, I am less likely to question it.

 

On 30/01/2022 at 8:47 PM, Matthew85 said:

On 30/01/2022 at 8:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

Yes, I feel this is all I'm capable of receiving because no where that pays more hired me during my job search.

If this is the current belief you hold, it will continue to be your experience until a different belief becomes more dominant. 

Appreciate the lack of sugar-coating.

 

On 30/01/2022 at 8:47 PM, Matthew85 said:

On 30/01/2022 at 8:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

I tried this for several hours last week, but the negative emotions didn't get better, they just got worse over time. Fully feeling my emotions without trying to change them right now is a one way ticket to intense suffering, for me.

I can only share my personal experience. Suppressing or resisting negative emotions didn't work for me. I could get temporary relief, but they would keep bubbling up. Feeling, releasing and letting go of judgment is what gave me lasting relief. 

Thank you for bringing this to light. I'm trying to let go of all of my judgements such as to become more self-similar with my idealized self-image of nothing and everything and neither.

 

On 30/01/2022 at 8:47 PM, Matthew85 said:

On 30/01/2022 at 8:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

Isn't denying just the combination of letting go and replacing at the same time?

It depends. When you are denying, are having a negative judgment about it? Or are you allowing it to be what it is? 

Thank you for bringing this distinction to light.

 

On 30/01/2022 at 8:47 PM, Matthew85 said:

On 30/01/2022 at 8:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

Isn't that just defaulting to my automatic judgements (as opposed to consciously selecting a judgement that would be more conducive to feeling benevolent emotions and thinking benevolent thoughts)?

The goal is to get to place of neutrality. If you feel you need to have benevolent thoughts about something, you are still saying there is something wrong with it as it is.

Hard truths.

 

On 30/01/2022 at 8:47 PM, Matthew85 said:

On 30/01/2022 at 8:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

and for people to like me.

Do you like you?

It depends on the moment. Sometimes I judge myself to be good, sometimes bad, but always based on limited access to information and some amount of emotional reactivity obscuring what rational analysis is going on. When I'm doing self inquiry (currently attempted 24/7), I try not to hold an opinion of myself because it's a distraction from the question, and any answer to the question ends up being a wild goose chase.

Edited February 1, 2022 by softlyblossoming
expanded

[BipolarGrowth]

The only way you’re limiting yourself is foolishly convincing yourself that this is somehow a limitation. 

[The0Self]

On 1/30/2022 at 3:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

If I stop thinking thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late", does that count as fixing the problem?

Actually, in a sense, yeah.

In my view the most important facet of spirituality (consciousness development) is being clear on what you want. If you want to stay up late, do so... but if you simultaneously want to go to sleep early but also procrastinate and stay up late, this will result in suffering and contraction -- contraction which can be alleviated by being clear on desires. Creating (art; music; writing; etc) seems to be associated a bit with desires becoming more clear. Mindfulness in daily life + doing what you enjoy seems to be a no brainer, but that's not like an authoritative prescription or anything.

[WelcometoReality]

On 2022-01-30 at 9:17 PM, softlyblossoming said:

1. If I stop thinking thoughts like "I shouldn't be staying up late", does that count as fixing the problem?

Should and shouldn't comes from the conditioned mind.

If you think that you shouldn't be staying up late you can inquire into the thought like this.

1. "I shouldn't be staying up late"

2. Is this true? Why shouldn't I stay up late?

3. Because I should go up early and I'll be tired if I stay up all night.

4. Question those statements. Are they true? 

5. Do I need to go up early?

6. Yes I have work tomorrow.

7. Is there something wrong with being tired?

8. No, but I don't like being tired at work. I don't perform as well when I'm tired.

9. So if I dont want to be tired at work I also want to go to bed early.

Just an example but you conclude what you want rather than what you should or shouldn't do.

[Matthew85]

7 hours ago, softlyblossoming said:

As depressing and brutalizing as it is, I can't help but feel it is to some degree healthy for me, at this time, to accept painful things.

@softlyblossoming Be mindful not to attach negative judgments. Also, remember you are not your experience, you are the awareness observing it. 

7 hours ago, softlyblossoming said:

Interesting how when society views a limiting belief as mental health promoting, I am less likely to question it.

I highly recommend spending some time questioning the belief's from society you have adopted as true. Many of these are not serving you. I know of only two universal truths. I AM and I create. Everything else is something added for distinctions and unique experiences. 

 

7 hours ago, softlyblossoming said:

It depends on the moment. Sometimes I judge myself to be good, sometimes bad, but always based on limited access to information and some amount of emotional reactivity obscuring what rational analysis is going on.

Everything is in a process of evolution. When we really get this, we realize everything is perfect as it is right now, including us. 

[Mason Riggle]

17 hours ago, Matthew85 said:

Also, remember you are not your experience, you are the awareness observing it. 

This seems backwards, or perhaps it's that it infers an imaginary duality.  There is no you other than the totality of experience. 

It's direct.. you ARE that which is typically considered 'not you' (there is no 'me' and 'everything else', the totality of whatever there seems to be, is Me).  No 'experiencer' on top of 'experience'.  

 

17 hours ago, Matthew85 said:

I AM and I create.

Again.. a duality.  There is no 'creator' on top of 'creation'.  Creation itself is what I AM.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Mason Riggle

[Mason Riggle]

@softlyblossoming I don't. Nothing to do and no one to do it. 

 

[Mason Riggle]

@softlyblossoming I might ask you.. 'How do you grow your hair?'   Notice that 'your hair growing' is [part of] what you are.. it's not something 'you' are doing. 

It's Absolutely Effortless to 'be myself'.  I never have to try to do it.  I just am it.  How hard are you trying to be you? How hard are you trying to think right now? How hard are you trying to grow your hair? 

Well, not at all. Thinking is happening. Hair is growing.  You (however you define yourself) are something occurring, not something that 'does things'.  Go ahead and try to stop being yourself.. notice that 'trying not to be yourself' is just more 'you being yourself'.  You are always 'automatically' being yourself, without trying to. You can't stop doing it. 

Being is effortless, and it's the only thing you ever 'do'. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Mason Riggle

[Mason Riggle]

@softlyblossoming now, Leo might suggest the opposite, that 'you' are 'doing' everything, as God, and he'd be correct.  

But I defer to Alan Watts-  "Am I doing all of this, or is all of this doing me?"

I don't see a difference.