Mason Riggle

then why, when it came to making the sex parts, did he put the playground right next door to the sewage plant!? ?

@Dodo there's the opposite perspective of 'I'm doing all of it'.. in which case 'THIS' must be exactly what I want to be doing, otherwise I'd be doing something else.

@Dodo like I said, nothing wrong with meditation.. just recognize that when you meditate, that's something your organism is doing, and not something 'you' are doing, because there is no 'you'. (yes, there is the organism called @Dodo that does what it does, but there's no 'separate you' who 'does' what your organism does. Who is growing your hair? Well, the organism is growing hair, and it's doing that automatically. Who is thinking your thoughts? Well, the organism is thinking thoughts, and it's doing that automatically. How hard are you trying to 'be yourself' right now? The answer is, not at all.. it's effortless.. you just 'are you'.

@Dodo nothing wrong with meditation.. just don't be fooled into thinking that meditating is the same as 'doing nothing'. When a tree is growing leaves.. what part of the tree is 'doing that'? How hard is trying to grow leaves? Notice that even without a 'doer' inside the tree somewhere who 'grows leaves'.. leaves grow. Is a tree 'doing nothing', or 'growing leaves'? This is a silly question.. there's no 'doer'.. the tree is just being a tree. Growing leaves is happening, inseparable from the Singular Happening (Reality), which doesn't require a 'doer' to happen. Who is clouding the clouds? Who is flowing the rivers? Well, it's no one.. it's all happening together. Am I 'doing all of that'? Well, sure I am.. the same way I shine the sun and grow my hair... that is to say.. there's no 'me' who's 'doing it'. I am what is happening.

@charlie cho learn to operate on a spectrum that goes from 0% trust, to 100% trust, and shy away from the extremes. Consider.. how can you even trust your experience? Perhaps this is all a dream? Maybe you're in a simulation? Or a brain in a vat hallucinating reality? You can't say with 100% certainty.. so you base what you trust on experience, which is all you have. If I tell you I my car is in my driveway.. you might be inclined to trust me.. because in your experience.. people have cars, and driveways, and it's plausible that I have one, etc.. but even if you don't know for sure whether I do or not, you don't have to trust me 100% to behave as if I do, and this would be a reasonable way to go about your day. If I tell you I have a dragon in my living room.. you probably won't trust me as much.. because in your experience.. dragons aren't really a thing.. but even if you don't know for sure whether I do or not, you don't have to doubt 100% in order to behave as if I don't.

@gettoefl meh.. there's a lot that still happens, nothing to be done. Even when God pretends he's not how he is (or gets himself so drunk he forgets).. that's exactly how he is.

@gettoefl when who realizes it? Some realizer? Of course there's no 'doer'.. and this is why there's nothing to be done.

There is no 'beginning of the universe'... the same way there is no 'center of the surface of a sphere'. Reality is shaped like a strange loop. Experience is all there is. The only evidence there is of an 'experiencer' is the 'experience of an experiencer'. Sam Harris put's it this way (I know, I know, he's a materialist, blah blah blah)... "what you mistake to be the 'thinker of thoughts' is just more thought occurring now". Similarly, what is mistaken as 'the experiencer of the experience' is just more experience.

Even 'sitting all day meditating' is 'doing something'. ('actively not doing' is a self contradictory phrase, like 'intentionally not intending') You can't 'do nothing'.. trying to 'do nothing' is 'doing something'. To 'do nothing' is to 'not exist'.. or rather 'not be'.

Just venturing a guess here.. but I think you said the answer, in reverse. Just as good grammar is a byproduct of properly ordered thinking, properly ordered thinking is a byproduct of our language. A minor warning here- sometimes what society considers to be 'proper grammar' can limit how you think. There are some thoughts you can't think because you lack the vocabulary to think them, for example. Also, using proper grammar can reduce the chance of there being confusion when communicating. When both parties are aware of the grammar rules, and apply them, communication is more precise and meaningful. Just imagine trying to write a computer program, but not following the coding 'grammar'.. chances are the computer will not know how to interpret the language you are telling it because it follows strict grammar rules to understand exactly what you mean.

@Dodo hmmm.. I don't know the difference between 'being' and 'doing'. Isn't 'being myself' what I'm 'doing'? Isn't anything I 'do' the same as 'how I am being' ? "Any attempt to change what is occurring, is just more of what is already occurring." - Me

^yeah, no. 'whatever thing can happen' is not the case.. only what will happen, can happen. Trees don't grow their leaves facing the sun just because they are free and can.. they do it because they can't do otherwise. Trees, like everything else, behave exactly how they prefer to behave. If there was some other ways trees preferred to be, they would be that way. I don't mean 'prefer' in the normal sense, they way humans have preferences (although it's certainly true that humans only prefer what they prefer to prefer).. I mean it in a metaphorical sense.. the way a ball that is up, prefers to be down. The way an ice cube prefers to be liquid when it's above freezing temp. The way lightning prefers the path of least resistance.

^this. It sounds like a joke, but this is a powerful bit of advice.

@SQAAD yeah.. I hear you. What if I said, 'Reality is Always how it Wants to be'... or how it 'Prefers' to be... instead? Are those maps any better?

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” ― Zen saying People often worry that they will stop being how they are when they discover that there's nobody 'doing it'. Fear not. There is no 'tree' inside of a tree anywhere that has a 'purpose to be a tree', or whom is busy with the task of 'being a tree', and yet there's the trees, being trees.

Leo already gave the answer. It's love. Reality is Always how it Loves to be.

If it seems to me that you are conscious, then this is no different (from my perspective, the only one I have) than 'you being conscious'. If it seems to you that I am conscious, then this is no different (from your perspective, the only one you have) than 'me being conscious'. Seeming a certain way, and being a certain way are the same thing. Reality IS Imaginary... but whatever is Imagined, is as Real as it's ever going to get. Consider.. is Reality 'really' Imaginary... or does it just seem that way?

Yes, but recognize that this is NO DIFFERENT than if 'you or Leo' were not just figments of imagination. 'seeming [a certain way]' and 'being [a certain way]' are the same thing.

^this.

It only matters that reality is a dream if it isn't a dream. If it is a dream, then it doesn't matter that it is. (mattering is a property of the material paradigm). Consider, is this conversation, this forum, this sentence, etc. 'real' or does it just 'seem real'? If you can't tell the difference, what difference could it possibly make which it is?

What is often mistaken to be 'the experiencer of experience' is just more experience. The 'thinker of thoughts' is just more thought. There is no separate 'you' inside your head, or body.. you are the experience of your head and body.. but more than that, you are everything in experience. There is no line between 'you' and 'that which is not you'. When a bird is chirping, that is who you are, the experience of a bird chirping. "I have no other self than the totality of things of which I am aware." - Alan Watts The truth is, you can't even say where reality itself is, let alone where 'you' might be. Where is the Universe?

Maybe they don't.

Heyyy, this is Leo = It'sa me, Mario

"You find out that the universe is a system that creeps up on itself and says 'Boo' and then laughs at itself for jumping." - Alan Watts

If I'm longing for something, then 'me longing for something' is what THIS already is, and is just as 'good/bad' as 'not longing'. Then recognizing this wouldn't make it any better. Then 'Heaven disguised as something else' is the same as 'Heaven'.