The True Test Of Progress In Spirituality

[Razard86]

Spirituality is ultimately about your ability to move throughout life with no resistance. The Ego= resistance/judgment/criticism. When there is nobody left on trial for their crimes and transgressions ESPECIALLY YOU, then you are able to move with no resistance in life. Its called Liberation because you have placed yourself in jail and until you believe you are worthy to be released (overcome feelings of unworthiness) then you will be imprisoned. 

This means Spirituality is mostly centered on releasing yourself from your energetic constraints by detaching yourself from the stories that you tell that you are guilty. You are not guilty, you were unconscious. All egoic activity is unconscious. Stop blaming yourself or others, take responsibility for the stories you tell yourself, and allow your emotions to express themselves without resistance. At the level you resist in life you will suffer. There is a famous saying, what you resist persists. Enlightenment is not liberation until you stop believing your own lies/stories you tell about yourself and others. If you still believe the lies/stories you tell...then you have not been liberated. 

This is the most avoided work in Spirituality and is the number one reason people get stuck. Meditation will not do this for you, chanting will not do this for you, psychedelics without inquiry and a desire to confront trauma will not do it for you. I don't care how many videos you watch of Spiritual Teachers, I don't care how many gurus you study under, I don't care how much scripture you can recite, ultimately the work is centered around dropping all judgment of yourself and others. If you are not waking up with the intention to work with your judgment and constantly searching for more ways to be less resistant with life, then you are not doing Spirituality you are just messing around.

 

 

 

[Guest Edvardas]

Can you act conscioussly and still operate from ego? When I say consciously, I mean being self-aware in the present moment. 

[John Paul]

I think the test of spirituality is if you can center someone else with less and less attention on yourself. That’s the description of the 10th ox-herding picture- with no display of magic powers, you make withered plants burst into life. Something like that

can you remind someone that we love each other without saying anything remarkable or edgy etc? 

[axiom]

It’s called liberation because there’s no identification left.

[Moksha]

@Razard86 Well said. Judgment is always egoic. It separates rather than unites. My personality was shaped by a fundamentalist faith, and still sometimes struggles, especially with self-judgment. The deconditioning continues, and is the grace of Consciousness. How liberating to realize that you are not your thoughts, beliefs, or experiences. Ultimately, you are the awareness behind these phenomena, observing with equanimity. 

[michaelcycle00]

For me that feels like giving up, as opposed to letting go. So I’m supposed to be ok with the unfairness and atrocities of the world, and somehow even be happy about it because “it’s all me anyway!”. Yeah, I don’t see how that could work. Hooray only I suffer! Thanks God, thank you for such a thoughtful gift 

[Breakingthewall]

In true spirituality you transcend self-esteem, where you compare yourself to a mental model to feel worthy or unworthy of being loved, to reach self-awareness, where worthy or unworthy does not make any sense. you are, and that goes much further. It is love and glory to exist, it is right now and it has no limits, and there is nothing else but you, everything is you, and you no longer compare, you only savor the breadth of being now

Edited December 4, 2022 by Breakingthewall

[Brandon Nankivell]

Good stuff.

[Razard86]

17 hours ago, Edvardas said:

Can you act conscioussly and still operate from ego? When I say consciously, I mean being self-aware in the present moment. 

What I realize is that people keep looking for this self-aware in the present moment thing. I have realized that becomes a trap as well. You are only trapped in ego when you believe the stories that are coming up about the situation. The truth= WHAT IS. Not your interpretation of what it is. So we live from ego when we operate from believing our interpretation of what is. That puts us in character and deeply seated in the storyline of that interpretation. All interpretation is story, which is ego, which is meaning. 

I'm not demonizing the ego, the ego serves a function like your car, your house, the tools you use in your everyday life. Just do not fall asleep into thinking that tool is you. If you do not believe your stories, then you are always able to move without resistance. All of us are only imprisoned by the stories we believe/hold onto. So all you are doing in the work is slowly cutting the threads that bind you to your stories.

I believe Ram Dass is a GREAT example of someone whose life was lived from that place. Now you don't have to beat yourself up in comparing yourself to him. From the place you are at in life, do the best you can. 

None of my threads are judgment, they are just illumination of what all the different teachers were trying to communicate from my perspective.

 

[Razard86]

15 hours ago, John Paul said:

I think the test of spirituality is if you can center someone else with less and less attention on yourself. That’s the description of the 10th ox-herding picture- with no display of magic powers, you make withered plants burst into life. Something like that

can you remind someone that we love each other without saying anything remarkable or edgy etc? 

I would say the bold part is a limitation but I agree with the general consensus of the comment. Why? The bold part is default. Your default state of being, of just being in the presence of another without resistance will radiate love. You don't have to do anything, just being with your presence does all the work.

But sometimes...a witty or edgy comment is needed, to break the ice for the person who may not be able to even feel the presence of your love because they are caught in a torrent of self-judgment thoughts. Its why Gurus are usually so good at cracking jokes, to get you out of your head lol.

[Razard86]

On 12/3/2022 at 4:39 PM, michaelcycle00 said:

For me that feels like giving up, as opposed to letting go. So I’m supposed to be ok with the unfairness and atrocities of the world, and somehow even be happy about it because “it’s all me anyway!”. Yeah, I don’t see how that could work. Hooray only I suffer! Thanks God, thank you for such a thoughtful gift 

As long as you interpret the world as unfair and having atrocities that is what you will experience. Notice you are separating yourself from the world yet the proof in your direct experience is the world is YOU. When you go to sleep the world that you know disappears. So unless you are here there is no world. But you deny this and blame the world. 

The world is literally your own creation. Stop complaining, stop deluding yourself and actually investigate this. Every single judgment you ever make about the world is a judgment against yourself. By saying the world is unfair, you will walk around and justify your selfishness with the motto "Life is unfair deal with it." Because you believe the world gives atrocities this reveals you have a victim mindset. This means you believe you are weak, and have limited power to experience what you want to experience.

This means you do not take accountability, and blame others, this means you are dishonest and get lost in the lies you tell yourself. As a result you will experience every lie, every judgment you have against the world until you are willing to drop it. You have sentenced yourself to hell, because the truth is you are both God and the Devil. 

So say hi to Lucifer for me, and let me know how Hell feels like.

[ryandesreu]

Ram Dass is great. My favorite speaker at the moment. The story of his life's radical changes and his attitude and sense of humor is inspiring. If you haven't already heard it listen to the story about the sheep, 1 hour 31 minutes in this video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTDnoSk_kc&list=LLDDBqDC4g2iXi9yA-7zstpQ&index=13&t=13159s&pp=gAQBiAQB

[Razard86]

9 hours ago, ryandesreu said:

Ram Dass is great. My favorite speaker at the moment. The story of his life's radical changes and his attitude and sense of humor is inspiring. If you haven't already heard it listen to the story about the sheep, 1 hour 31 minutes in this video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kHTDnoSk_kc&list=LLDDBqDC4g2iXi9yA-7zstpQ&index=13&t=13159s&pp=gAQBiAQB

Thanks I'll check it out.

[PurpleTree]

Nice

it’s really hard to let that stuff go though, i’m trying everyday and still have tons of shame and « energetic constraints »