Beginner Mind
Member-
Content count
572 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Beginner Mind
-
-
21 hours ago, winterknight said:No, don't surrender "to" that or "to" anything else. Relax the mind. That means don't voluntarily think, except involuntarily. There's no need to "accept" responsibility or "reject" responsibility.
Let the illusion be as it is, or not as it is, or whatever it wants to be. Maintain only that intention not to deliberately think.
A relaxed/quiet mind is impossible for me. But thanks for trying to help me.
-
16 minutes ago, Nahm said:@Beginner Mind It should be under great suspicion and curiosity that you are perfectly sized between the earth and an atom, and that your heart is beating without choice
Yes! The heart is beating without choice, finger nails are growing without choice, hair is growing without choice, even thoughts are appearing without choice. With so much beyond our control, can there really be said to be any choice at all?
19 minutes ago, Nahm said:Rather than contemplating if I make choices, contemplate if I made choice.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Can you elaborate?
-
12 minutes ago, Mikael89 said:Yep, but no one here except I will agree with you about that.
What you say can also be rephrased to: we are all victims.
I wouldn't say we are victims. Our conditioning is always changing, so you may be exposed to an inspirational teaching that will become part of your new conditioning, which may fundamentally change your personality and behavior for the better.
-
1 hour ago, Commodent said:Love is important, but don't use love as an excuse for supressing hurt feelings. There is obviously a reason for why you shut down your heart, and those feelings need to be acknowledged (whether it be blame, anger, grief, whatever). It took me over 2 years to work through these emotions towards my parents and open my heart to them, and I wasn't even severely abused. Had I used excuses such as "they were treated that way themselves", "I should forgive" and "it wasn't that bad" to shut down those feelings of anger and blame this process probably never would have happened.
In my view, the liberation to be whatever is the key. Had I been stuck in that prison of how I ought to be and feel, I never would have been able to love fully.
When I was 18 I called my dad (who lives in California) and told him how much his absence in my life had impacted me. He basically said that he'd like to be a mentor to me if he can, but that a traditional father-son relationship wasn't going to happen.
In my 20's as I started to get into certain spiritual teachings, it started to dawn on me that my dad was simply acting out his genes and conditioning. We don't really have a choice over who we are and what we do. Our genetics and our conditioning determine everything about us. This realization allowed me to forgive my dad.
Nowadays I mostly ignore his phone calls, not out of bitterness, but rather because I feel like I don't even know who he is. Now, though, with my newfound willingness to cultivate love and express love, I'm feeling a little more willing to receive his next phone call.
-
@Nahm Thank you for your thoughtful post. I am a bit skeptical of the law of attraction but I can definitely see the benefit of writing down what I want.
-
4 hours ago, Mikael89 said:Probably the hippies in the 60's were at the same stage. And I believe they took psychedelics, just like you people. So you are all just a bunch of hippies. Disappointing.
You make me laugh. Don't ever change.
P.S. I don't know you well enough to say for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that what you truly long for is love also. You just aren't being honest with yourself.
-
1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:Yeah, you're terrified of genuine love. Selfishness & fear has prevented you.
You're probably right.
1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:Right now you are a devil. As a devil you suffer from the disconnection from God's Love. But you don't know how to stop being a devil. You're too scared to surrender your devilry. So you're caught in bind. On the one hand you want God and Love, on the other hand you cannot stand giving up your devilry.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. I'll have to watch your video on devilry.
-
@AlldayLoop I value winterknight's opinion but I don't think psychoanalysis is for me.
Yeah, the pursuit of enlightenment might've been an avoidance tactic for me, to some degree. Although, there has always been a genuine curiosity about knowing the truth of life. (I was a Philosophy major, after all.)
-
Love is something that has come up in my awareness lately due in large part to Leo and this community. All this talk about love has made me realize how closed my heart has been over the years. Whether it was the absence of my father, or failed relationships, I don't know. But something has prevented me from really loving fully.
I used to think that enlightenment would be the ultimate key to happiness. But lately I've begun to wonder if the real key to happiness has been staring me in the face all along. Maybe what I've truly longed for above all else, is love.
Is love the key to a fulfilled life?
-
On 2019-08-08 at 5:59 PM, winterknight said:It is one way of thinking about things, but like any thought it is not absolute truth.
But look, if you do not have any choice, then recognize that and utterly surrender — totally relax, not moving a single mental muscle voluntarily. Let anything happen, any situation, any emotion, any thought, but recognizing that you are not the chooser — simply stay absolutely calm. That thing which IS absolutely calm no matter what choice is chosen, simply be that.
I know intellectually that I am not the chooser, but there is still the illusion of choosing. I feel responsible. Even as the heart beats by itself, finger nails and hair grows by itself, and even thoughts appear by themselves, somehow I feel responsible for my life. Scanning from head to toe, it's obvious that I'm not responsible for the functioning of this body-mind. And yet, somehow I feel responsible. Should I just surrender to that? Is accepting responsibility necessary in order for this body-mind's existence to unfold?
-
@winterknight I'm interested in hearing your perspective on choice.
I cannot choose to feel attracted to an obese woman, no matter how hard I try. I cannot choose to respect someone that I do not respect, no matter how hard I try. I can go on and on with these examples. But the bottom line is, it has become obvious to me that I do not really have any choice in this life. Can you comment on this?
-
@Truth Addict That's an interesting topic: Is everything predetermined? I used to think so. A few years ago I was heavily immersed in the teachings of Ramesh Balsekar, who taught that everything that happens is God's Will and predetermined. But, these days I'm skeptical. Not having choice doesn't necessarily mean that everything is predetermined, does it?
-
@seeking_brilliance Yeah, ultimately actions are not yours. But, if you don't accept responsibility for your life, you may find yourself just sitting on a couch, immobilized, not taking any action at all and probably having a victim mentality.
-
@Aaron p That's what I'm sayin' bro!
-
@Gili Trawangan So in your experience, are you able to simply sit back and witness the functioning of the body-mind and not take ownership of it?
-
@Gili Trawangan It's a beautiful possibility to contemplate... The possibility that things can't be any different than how they are in this moment. So much suffering would be reduced if this was truly seen.
-
@seeking_brilliance It might be boring but there would be far less suffering. There are certainly things in my past that I'm not proud of. It brings me some peace to contemplate the possibility that I wasn't responsible for those choices.
-
@seeking_brilliance Definitely feels natural for me to act as if I am responsible, but that's probably due to my conditioning from parents, school, etc. It would be interesting to see what kind of society we would have if people realized that they aren't truly responsible. There would almost certainly be less shame, guilt, hatred, pride, arrogance, etc.
-
@seeking_brilliance Yes, I think we do need to act as if we make choices. Accepting responsibility is an empowering thing to do.
-
@ajasatya I'm not trying to avoid responsibility. I'm just not convinced that I truly am responsible. I don't really feel that I deserve the credit or blame for what has happened in my life.
-
@Key Elements @ajasatya If I am truly capable of making choices, then I should be able to choose to feel attracted to an obese woman. But I can't do that. And so it is with everything. You don't choose to have liberal or conservative leanings. You don't choose to prefer coffee over tea. You don't choose to be a spiritual seeker.
-
@SunnyNewDay Even now as I feel inclined to disagree with you, I'm conscious of the fact that I am not consciously choosing to disagree with you. I really have no say in the matter.
Having said that, I think it's necessary for us to act as if we make choices.
-
@SunnyNewDay But if our choices are determined by unconscious forces, can they really be said to be choices at all?
-
There's a quote from David DeAngelo that has stuck with me over the years. He said, "Attraction isn't a choice." Whether someone feels sexually attracted to someone or not is not a conscious decision they are making. Attraction happens automatically beyond one's control.
This got me thinking, is anything a choice? Have we ever truly made a choice in our lifetime?
in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Posted
@Nahm Not sure. But the illusion of choice is not a mistake, I'm sure. It's as much a part of the design of the universe as anything else. So if you feel like the chooser, then be the chooser. It's all good.