abrakamowse

That's good, I really used to believe in a lot of stuff I don't believe now. Not because I think is false. Mostly because It's not possible to experience it so I prefer to leave that aside. Zen is good on that.

Maybe this can be of help with what you talked about things that we don't know. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle

Meditate only 30 mins per day and then socialize 23 hours and a half... but you need to sleep 8 hours, so you have 15 hours to socialize. And you will realize that when you began to practice meditation, you naturally become much more social. There's no problem to reconcile meditation with socialization because they never were antagonistic, one reinforce the other.

I AM

Welcome @JRF2k !!!!

http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/let-everything-happen-to-you "Rilke’s statement, “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” is very apropos, but it might suggest to some people being overwhelmed by feelings. Allowing yourself to be overwhelmed is not what Rilke is suggesting, though, since he also advises us to “just keep going.” When we’re lost in our feelings we become passive and so we give up on the “going.” The feeling becomes the only thing we can know or see. When we “just keep going” we’re aware that we’re going through a process that will naturally end. The more we resist our feelings, the longer the process will take. The more we can accept them and have compassion for them, the more quickly they’ll pass."

It can't terrify "you" because there's not really a "you". At least not a separated "you".

You are not depressed. You "think" you are depressed. You are attached to your thoughts, that's why you believe every thought that appears in your mind. You won't understand until you do some practice. If you do mindful meditation you will notice after a short period of time that some negatives thoughts dissolve in front of you and the have no power. But you need to sit and meditate at least 15 mins a day. The idea is to train the mind to not be attached to any thought, you are not everything you think you are. Those are possibilities. If you choose to believe the thought that it appears saying "I am depressed"... you will be depressed and your body will feel tired, and so on... you have to stop believing those negative thoughts. Watch Leo's video about Mindfulness meditation This one is good too... by Teal Swan

Totally @David1 we have to become it because we have to power to it. We are "it".

Question 1 = Who thinks that? Answer to the other points: There's nothing boring, the mind make you think is boring. If you do mindfully, paying attention to what you do, trying to master it, to do it perfect, even cleaning the floors is exciting. This is what Zen monks do everyday and they enjoy it, because they "learn" how to enjoy even simple and quotidian things or "chores". “Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.” – Shunryu Suzuki" "Make cleaning and cooking become meditation. Aside from the zazen mentioned above, cooking and cleaning are two of the most exalted parts of a Zen monk’s day. They are both great ways to practice mindfulness, and can be great rituals performed each day. If cooking and cleaning seem like boring chores to you, try doing them as a form of meditation. Put your entire mind into those tasks, concentrate, and do them slowly and completely. It could change your entire day (as well as leave you with a cleaner house)." More about this here: http://zenhabits.net/12-essential-rules-to-live-more-like-a-zen-monk/

How do you define the I AM? I ask this because I see that a lot of people like to say "there's nothing", "nothingness", "the void". That all this is true, but in my opinion it can be a bit deceptive, because the ego is always going to extremes. If it's nothing the other possibility doesn't exist. That's not how reality works. In reality all the possibilities are there, in one. The I AM (or the self) is nothing, and everything. It doesn't exists and it exists. So I see like confusion when people ask me what is no-self. I tell them that you can't find a self. "I" when is identified with the body, with impermanent things, like thoughts, feelings, skills, etc.... that I am doesn't exists, is fake. But there's pure awareness, not identified with nothing yet it is everything, that's the I AM I talk about. I searched some information about it, mostly from two of my favorites Advaita teachers, Nisargadatta Maharaj and Ramana Maharshi. Maharaj wrote the book that in my opinion is like the Bible of Advaita called "I AM THAT". And that is what it says about them on wikipedia: "The South Indian sage Ramana Maharshi mentions that in the Hindu Advaita Vedanta school, of all the definitions of God, "none is indeed so well put as the biblical statement 'I am that I am'". He maintained that although Hindu scripture contains similar statements in the Mahavakyas, these are not as direct as given in Exodus. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj explains the "I am" as an abstraction in the mind of the Stateless State, of the Absolute, or the Supreme Reality, called Parabrahman: it is pure awareness, prior to thoughts, free from perceptions, associations, memories." I wanted to post this question several days ago but I was always postponing it so I wanna thanks because we were talking about the topic on another thread and what he has to say got my attention, even when we don't agree in this point. But he was very respectful and I really like to change opinions with others, that's how we grow. Let me know guys what do you think about all this thing, does the I AM exists??? Or there's nothing at all??? How do you define "reality"? In my opinion reality and the I AM are the same. What is not the same is the thought that I AM this body, I am a loser, I am ugly, etc... the identification with a separated self, that's not real. The self is one, and is the I AM, is nothing and everything. Is non-dual. It has both characteristics, is a self and no-self. Is there a self, a no-self, awareness, reality, I AM that this or those, I AM not, etc etc etc...??????? And yara yara yara as Leo says.

Thanks @Markusl for the post, really deep. And clarifying. It's hard to talk about it that I think the best option is not to name it. I understand now in the old Jewish tradition why they never call him/her/it/whatever by its name.

I agree.... what I do when that happens is to think "it's just a thought" and I continue doing what I was doing...

Well... I work 8 hours a day doing graphic design. But if you don't want to do that you can search for works that give you "passive income". Things that you just do one time and then you just repeat the process, like selling stuff, buying something at wholesale prices and selling for more, like any web store. I told you that thinking in a profession, but you don't have to do what I suggested. The guys that I know would give their lives for comics hahaha... just kidding, but they love it. They would do it for free if they could and not 8 hours, whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. You have to enjoy the process and it's like if you were not working.

I don't think is a matter of courage @DimmedBulb . It is related , but I think is also a matter of patience. Let me share you my history. I always liked to draw comics, and any kind of drawing or illustration. I felt that I was not good enough so my father took me to the home of a known comic artist in my country. He was english, but he lived in my country since he was very young and he made his career there. His nickname was Fola. He told me that I have to keep drawing all the time non stop. Try to draw any moment I can. And I did that, but I didn't see many improvements so I never dedicated the time that is needed to succeed. So, I decided to become a Graphic Designer, it was like a "safer" position. And I didn't draw so often. To get good at illustration you need to draw everyday, no skip any day. Draw, draw and draw. I have friends that I meet because we liked to create comics that are now publishing to Europe and Image Comics, Marvel, DC, etc... I am the only one who didn't publish anything yet, I did but for minors comic magazines. What happened, they kept drawing more than me, so they become better than me faster. Now I am 47, I continue drawing but not at a fast pace as them... and now I am beginning to feel that my art has a professional look and it is good to publish. So now I am making a portfolio to begin to look for opportunities in the field of illustration and comics when I could have done that much younger. But that's life. I am not complaining, it was my choice. Unconscious, conscious or not, it was my choice. It takes about 10,000 hours to learn a new skill, that's what everybody says. The rule of 10,000 hours , you can read about it here . Leo talks about it in some of his videos I think. So, if you draw 5 or 6 hour per day (I am talking about drawing but is the same with any other project or skill) you will be good at something (let's say learn the ropes of creating a business) in about 5 years. I have friends who draw less than 5 hours, let's say 3 hours and they become really good in 10 years. But they began when they were 16 or around that age so they become good at 26 even at 30... that's a pretty nice age. But forget about ages and all that, what I wanted to tell you is that you will be failing the 2 or 3 first years, but you have to be PATIENT. Be patient and know that you will become good, you only have to continue trying. Don't quit fast. Remember winners never quit and quitters... never win...

That's the spirit! Yes, I agree and I arrived to the same conclusion, maybe that's what I wanted to find out. Thanks!!!

Metaphysical meaning of I AM I AM--Spiritual identity; the real or Christ Mind, of each individual. The I AM Being. God is I AM, and man, His offspring, is also I AM. I AM is the indwelling Lord of life, love, wisdom, and all the ideas eternally in Divine Mind. The I AM is the metaphysical name of the spiritual self, as distinguished from the human self. One is governed by Spirit, the other by personal will. Christ and Jehovah are the scriptural names for spiritual I AM. Jesus called it the Father. I AM is eternal, without beginning or ending: the true spiritual man whom God made in His image and likeness. The I AM has its being in heaven; its home is in the realm of God ideals. It is the center around which all the thoughts of man revolve. The narrow concept of the personal I AM should be led out into the consciousness of the great and only I AM. Man identifies himself with that to which he attaches his I AM, and whatever he identifies himself with, that he manifests. Hitch your I AM to the star of Christ, and infinite joy will follow as night the day. I AM identity--As the will of God, man represents I AM identity. Individual consciousness is like an eddy in the ocean--all the elements that are found in the ocean are also found in the eddy, and every eddy may, in due course, receive and give forth all that is in the ocean. This is individual consciousness, freedom to act without dictation of any kind, selfhood without consciousness of cause, the power to make or break without limitation. I AM, used adversely--Man seeking happiness through sense pleasure. This is sin (missing the mark), and the wages are pain, sickness, poverty, and death. Think I AM in harmony with God-Mind, and health, wealth, and harmony will be yours. "I am the light of the world"--(John 8:12). Refers to Christ as the expresser of Truth in all its aspects.

Enlightenment is not difficult, what is difficult for us is not to get attached to those fears. We take those fears as is "our" fear. It is not. It's just fear manifesting, you can observe it and let it go. It doesn't have power on you. I know this is easier said and done, I am actually having some fear problems. We are moved by fear and not by love. My way to deal with that is to do mindful meditation, where you just observe your thoughts but without getting attached to them. This with practice will give you a "separation" between you and the thoughts so you will be able to feel the fear but not be scared by it, because is just a feeling. Nothing bad is going to happen. Check Leo's video about mindful meditation. If you want I send you the link later.

Keep trying... don't quit

Just book names that Leo advice everyone to read.

But I was asking me also about the existence of a higher self. The Non-self teaching is in Buddhism and it differs from Hinduism in that point. From The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

I wasn't talking about that kind of "Free Will" if a person is not enlightened he's not aware of it... I thought you were talking about us as a "separated self" thinking that we have free will. I agree with what you just said. Basically...

I agree with that, but the same thing goes with 'nothing' it's just a label too... a concept and a thought. What do you think?

Why not? A fiction that creates everything?

So you don't see the objects as yourself, like there's no difference between perceiver and being perceived.. everything is happening, but something is perceiving it, right? Just asking, I'm interested in different points of view. Thanks.