Bill W

@KMB4222 Thank you. Your posts on this thread have resonated with me totally. I've started going through some of your old topics and posts. I note you liked the Osho book "Trust". I like Osho, and his book "The Buddha Said" is one of the best books I've ever read. Based on the end paragraph of my post here do you think the Osho book "Trust" might be of interest to me? Your topic on taking notes instead of action is the predicament I find myself in right now actually. I also found the book Letting Go by David Hawkings to be inspirational. I appreciate my idea of letting go might be very different to yours, and my goals very different to yours. I just love your posts here and your attitude. You come across really humble and open-minded. My journey at the moment has led me to the point that there is little point in trying to acquire things right now (even though my obsessive/addictive nature continues to try). I'm holding too much crap. Loads of stuff needs to be let go. I think I'll only go as far as my ability to let go. Perhaps not as radical as you describe in your original post here. To begin with I am working on letting go of such things as; blame, anger, resentment, punishment, arrogance, being correct, taking things personally, avoidance, pride and entitlement. Or perhaps letting go of the ego (as I understand the ego). I also think letting go will be a lifetime activity, day in, day out for me.

@KMB4222 I love this thread of yours. If I could sum u my personal developments goals in two words it would be letting go. It might be that I am thinking of something different to you, but there are, at the minimum some similarities. I know you mention letting go of techniques and teachings, but was there any teaching that really resonated with you before you let all teachings go temporarily? If that makes sense? Did anything help you achieve this state? Also do you know what @SriBhagwanYogi is talking about?

I was about to contribute to this thread and I will, but can you please explain this comment to me? Just a little. I can't work out what you mean. Tried Googling it but wasn't sure. I've bolded the part I am referring to. Thanks.

@Truth Addict We have opposing views on this issue, but I really respect your humility. I don't see much sign of you taking things too personally which is a trait I am working on myself.

Or maybe Leo doesn't mind because he knows it will lead to a culling. He is polishing the ban hammer.

The longer this thread goes on, the longer the next person who wants to start a similar thread has to wait ? Leo will end up having to invest in software that can spot these threads instantly and as soon as the topic is opened it is locked ?????

@DrewNows That's devilry

Yeh and I was thinking, if members get threads locked and they need support they can use PM facility surely to strike up some conversation? Admittedly that leaves them with less input but it's better than nothing. Also, members can start another thread that meets expectations as the Mod or Leo usually give a reason for locking a thread.

I agree with how many threads get locked. They get locked because the Mods or Leo think they need to be locked. I think Mods should carry on as they are. If less threads now get locked it will be a shame, as I think they have the balance right. I just hope they don't lock less threads because of threads like this.

Respect. Don't see much of this on the forum. Shows strength of character.

Hey, I just watched the 10min clip on centering prayer. I can't remember the thread you posted it on. I think today or yesterday. You posted 3 of them. I absolutely loved it. I actually read a book by Thomas Keating recently. It was him being interviewed by a recovered alcoholic. Divine therapy and addiction. Brilliant read. I think I'm going to really throw myself into centering prayer. It makes so much sense to me.

We do apply these faculties all the time, for better or worse. The person who starts the thread uses reason, logic, and conscience and so does the mod or Leo who then locks it. When there is a clash, the Mods/Leo reserve the right to lock up. Our job is to start debate, share stuff and their job is all of that plus the monitoring. Anyway, the person can actually start another thread but try to fit it more in line with what is expected.

I'm not saying it's a great tactic to do that and I might not like it done to me but can you honestly say that? This sentence is an example of concrete thinking. I'm here to break free from my concrete thinking and stay more in "not knowing mind". I doubt you really think a teacher can NEVER be a good teacher if he says a certain thing? You say that it will be locked out of fear. We all suffer from fear, all of us, every single one I reckon, but I doubt very much fear is a factor in thread locking. This is an assumption on your part. You probably have more fear about this thread than the mods! If you are honest? I'm not fighting with you. You obviously feel strongly that things are being unduly censored.

@How to be wise Thanks for this thread, it's a good one. I once looked at a Byron Katie video and didn't take to it, but seeing you on this forum and some of what others have said, makes me want to check her out again. I don't care for all this enlightenment talk and I don't want to try psychedelics. I'm looking for something practical to help me manage the ego and negative emotional states. A teacher like Byron Katie is possibly someone I should pay attention to. I think perhaps teachers with a very simple message get overlooked as we are all perhaps chasing something more complicated for some unknown reason. I'd be amazed if someone reaches the levels of emotional mastery you refer to by aged 20. Life still has so much to throw at you, but I can't dismiss what you are saying, not for a second. Good on you. Hope to see you posting still. Well done on your progress.

Moderators are also the teachers to a degree. Leo has said this place isn't just some place with free speech. It's a school here and sometimes we have to be put in the naughty corner. That's why we are here, to better ourselves. Edit: I know I said mods are just as wise/unwise as the rest of us, but they still the teachers, in a designated role

This will be locked up soon so thought I'd get in now. Got no beef with you and I don't suck up to moderators as I don't care for them either way, they are just as wise and unwise as the rest of the us, but they do have a job to do and I've not seen an interesting thread get locked. All the threads I've seen get locked are required to be locked, with the key thrown away. It's for our own good. This forum has to be above the average forum in terms of quality or what's the point in being here. I know quality can be subjective, but it doesn't take much to see that virtually all locked threads are not for this place, they are for the 95% of the internet. Standards here are higher and they need to be.

I can see why Leo is getting fucked off. This should be in the mental health forum if anywhere. Edit. Just annoyed at the sloppy use of the term autism. It can be a big disability for some.

Any Alien that gets close enough to Earth for us to assess their mental constitution would probably be making a model for us and not vice versa. We are a species that is working toward making ourselves extinct. No one wants our model trust me.

No offense but I think it would not pass quality control. Leo says he will reduce low quality threads. I am not saying you are a low quality just the question might be. Not my decision. I could be wrong. How does this question aid anyone's self actualisation? How does my post on this thread help anyone? It doesn't perhaps, so I am a potential hypocrite here not even contributing to your question! If no moderator locks this thread i am the low quality In the thread!

If Leo finds this thread it will be terminated. It will be targeted for destruction. It will be locked for 100,000 years.

Good topic friend! I also can end up in this situation. However, I propose that YouTube is not the problem. Actually I speak for myself here and perhaps it will relate to you, or maybe not. YouTube is not my problem. If I banned YouTube my craving would present itself in another form. I would probably end up doing something equally time wasting. If I am spending too long on YouTube watching crap that is not legitimately good for my personal development, then I need to work out what I am avoiding. I also need to check my level of entitlement. Often doing these soul destroying activities such as binging on the internet and binging on food at the moment is me living in the world of entitlement and not in the world of gratitude. It is also me living in the world of instant gratification and away from the world of hard work, dedication, commitment and discipline. I'm not saying we can never have downtime, but we all know it's easy to take downtime to a whole new level. I need to work on skillful relaxation and skillful downtime. So for me, I can't blame YouTube for my inner problems. I am not accusing you of blaming YouTube. I speak for me only. Dumb, instant gratification, wasted time activity is an outer manifestation of an inner problem. Sometimes the problem is simply sloppy habits, other times it runs deeper, much deeper.

Thought I'd copy & paste my PM to you Drew so JBram can get an extra insight to Billl W (for what it's worth!) Hey, I could not get into this at all. Watched it all, all be it lost some focus on/off. I love her voice and the pace and tone of her speech, but it sounds too much like the dating/sexuality/relationships part of this forum which I don't get much out of. This might sound arrogant, but I really believe if I get myself right in terms of my values I won't need to worry about strategies and tactics to enhance relationships. If I am open-minded, humble, grateful, honest and have faith & courage, everything else will fall into place, EVERYTHING! That's my plan my friend I really agree with her talking about programmed beliefs. I also refer to this as the human condition, or whenever I am feeling a bit of a devil, I call it the human condition infection which most of us are afflicted with and we are trying to sort out / manage the symptoms. A lot of what you post on the forum is in line with how I would like to think and handle things, so I'm always interested if you see something and think there is even a small chance I would find it useful. By me being honest with the stuff you do highlight to me, it will save you wasting your time etc. There are four things common on this forum that I am completely not interested in right now and that's material success, romantic relationships, sexual needs and psychedelics (just so you know). Not sure why I told you that, kinda random!

Good topic. For me, these are some of things that I'm working on, and that I consider my weak spots; Most problematic Withdrawing from others combined with withholding attention/affection, linked to punishing people for "wrong doings" Not admitting I've done the same thing (linked to the above) Attributing my own poor behaviour to stress or adverse circumstances, but not giving others the same benefit (again linked to the above!) Expecting others to be what they are not (as above!) Not listening properly, and not paying attention Very poor self-control with diet Less problematic (making progress but still struggling often) Blaming others Taking things personally Entitlement Not being open and honest, expecting others to “read between the lines” Intolerance Not forgiving Not admitting when I am at fault

@MsNobody Thanks for those clips, really, really good.

I also think that people who want to be right are just doing what comes naturally to them a lot of the time. When a behaviour becomes a habit, that's what happens, whether you are a mis-matcher or a person who has to be right. I think this is a key issue, that behaviour becomes natural for people. It feels natural so it stops being questioned. Well, at it's most problematic level it stops being questioned, as there is nothing to question (which is unfortunate for the people on the receiving end of the behaviour!). Probably unfortunate for the person themselves as well, as inevitably they will experience suffering, but not realise why. I propose that the level of needing to be right often correlates with that persons perceived level of self-investment in their viewpoint. This is perhaps where personal bias comes in and contaminates open-mindedness and humility. Nobody really wants to admit they are personally biased when trying to "right" the other person! Also, it makes me think of.....confidence in a particular stance is often a reflection of personality type that is repackaged in an attempt to display wisdom (edit: acting the big shot doesn't make you right, but some people assume if the message is presented assertively and without question, it must be correct). This is how abuse can happen. Many people are highly skilled in doing this. The use of language where a person writes or speaks as if what they are saying has 0% chance of being wrong. They are writing about a highly subjective viewpoint that is dressed up as fact. Basically, I've invested all this time in my viewpoint and it feels like I've cracked it and stumbled onto the truth, therefore it must be the truth for everyone and I will educate the masses. I am personally biased in that I believe Jesus, Buddha etc may have had a good point, but I do not believe we have 100's of Jesus' and Buddha's on this forum, but reading some of the posts you'd think this place is a magnet for the Jesus Christ's and Buddha's of our generation.