LfcCharlie4

Love of life Takes 'time' to integrate, but eventually you'll see normal life as God and love it more than ever

I would like to know how atypical you would behave when your young children are starving for days on end. The history of communism is caked in millions upon millions of deaths, it was a stage red / blue model at best based upon violent dictatorships & totalitarianism. You're best off asking people who actually lived under communist regimes, there's a big reason most 'communists' are under 25s from Western Democracy's, and not the offspring of people who actually experienced it or those that did live through it...

Agree. Humans are social animals for sure, modern society definitely limits community feel massively, its a shame. However, Leo is right in that you don't want 24/7 socialization, you need that alone time, contemplation time, reading time etc to balance it, and if anything upgrade your socialization. Its amazing how everything comes back to balance And, even more amazing that balance is actually nuanced and not the same for everyone One person's social balance may be completely different to another and that's fine I think this is why studying personality & in particular your own is crucial, understand what makes you tick and what you enjoy, your blind spots & shadow too. All the talk of awakening / enlightenment work often leads to people overlooking personality and your own humanity

+1 Especially young people. However, people are also very different, some are naturally introverted, some naturally extroverted, and that also needs to be considered. For me, I love socializing & feel energized after if anything, so hated lockdown when there was zero socializing. But, then I also love spending time alone, so its finding the balance right for you I think.

@Carl-Richard Haha I do get it takes away from other pursuits, but to be honest, I think the average user on here from what I've seen could do with a LOT more real world time & experience, not less that's all And, of course different personalities require different amounts of socializing, I'm quite extroverted and always looking for the next event & social meet up, whereas, others may be more happy living an introverted point I guess it comes back to, it doesn't really matter as its your life just live Also, while 'no others' is a fundamental absolute truth, it can be dangerous on a 'relative' level if not integrated with other realizations, I think one of the main reasons so many people struggled during covid & young people struggle in general is a lack of real human interaction, contact & connection, hence why I think its important people do at least learn to socialize, and then find the right social life for them

Here's an idea- Do what suits your personality & enjoy. If you wanna become a social expert, go study it and have fun & enjoy socializing If you're naturally introverted, learn the basics and build a social life that makes you happy, maybe its a partner and literally 1 true friend, for others they love parties, gatherings, socializing etc Its not that deep, just like some people prefer playing sports, some people prefer making art Its your life, enjoy it, dunno why people put so much weight on what someone says

@Optimized Life Lol this is true. I would bet good money 80% of members here don't have a grip on social / relationship skills, financial wellbeing, physical & mental health etc yet are spending their time debating in a Non-Dual echo chamber. Honestly majority of members here would benefit from traditional 'orange' practical self help that everyone loves to bash far more than spending time here & philosophizing Non-Duality

@undeather That could be the best meme ever Your quote fits it perfectly too

'There is nothing to develop' Be careful using absolute Non-Dual insights in the relative world. If you don't develop for example, and have no job, no relationships, poor health etc then your life will be shit, its as simple as that/ This is where Neo-Advaita can be dangerous imo, Rupert Spira speaks about how true non-duality doesn't involve denying the world & experiencing but loving it even more than before. Maybe instead of personal development, see it as integration & the living of spirituality through creating a life you love

Yep, agree. No harm in doing both simultaneously imo, but I do feel people shit on 'Stage Orange' around here while having little income, poor diet / exercise, lack of routine, little discipline etc.

@VeganAwake You're free to enjoy & employ any teachings you want but to me, Neo-Advaita is just bollocks & genuinely dangerous I'm not saying it doesn't help certain people who are ready for that teaching (you are one of them clearly) But just repeating the same thing, making $100000's travelling the world on retreats & selling books as an individual (unless this money is going to this 'nobody'?) then saying there's nobody there, nothing this is happening to etc is just hilarious to me Also, just talking from experience, going through that stage, was the least fulfilling & enjoyable, the 'No-Self' denial of life just left me wanting more, but if it works for you, that's cool, its just personally I prefer a more tantric approach from teachers such as Francis Lucille & My own teacher Ananda. But, if you're happy & enjoying life that's all that matters, if these teachers 'did it' for 'you' then enjoy liberation! I just personally think there is underlying dangers in these teachings, especially since a lot of seekers come with underlying mental health issues, lack of life experience & often unstable life conditions, so I think its very unskilful of them often. I am also biased though, so who knows!

@Razard86 Yah, I just mean the perception to be awakened you have to go live in India on a hill and can't participate in life

Haha, not every awakened being is a perfect saint living in a diaper like Ramana There's degrees of integration, personality types, culture, habits, upbringing etc etc I think a lot of 'spiritual' people think once they attain this magical enlightenment that's it and life's done But no, you'll still shit, feel pain if someone smacks you in the face & get kicked out your house if you don't pay rent Imo, you become even more human, as you actually get in touch with feeling & embrace it instead of being comfortably numb I'm also assuming most people on here are very young in comparison to most teachers, so there's a lot of life left to live There's a good chance your favorite guru fucks, drinks / smokes or used to, has issues in their personal life & doesn't live in a mountain meditating 10 hours a day Tbh, I've never understood why a lot of seekers wanna become like blocks of wood with no emotion / feeling, life is fun, and its even more fun after awakening

Lol. I can't remember who it was, but someone just said imagine your Child was ill and you went to the hospital and some doctor had adopted these Neo-Advaita teachings, yeah your child is dying but its all good because 'there's nobody there', 'nobody this is happening to' Also, I'd look out for a lot of scandals from these kind of teachers (not saying Jim Newman but in general) where the whole nobody there, nothing happening to noone spiel will be used as the excuse- How can anything with 'no' be the final answer? Sure, there's a time and a place to expose someone to the neti neti approach & what not, but as a parrot answer to every question, I'd say that's the furthest thing from Skilled Teaching. Plus, they never go beyond the 'No' 'Not' 'Nobody' and the truth is far beyond the negatives Imo, its quite a hollow, empty teaching, one you don't want to be stuck in

I think this is a pretty perfect way to look at it. If you wanna go beyond, a good comparison I like is that The Self is inherently free & therefore as you awaken and live from this place instead of 'little me' your ability to manifest, live with love, live in alignment etc only continues to grow and expand not diminish. When you obsess over having / not having free will, it just becomes mental masturbation on a smaller level and can even lead to what I call 'No-self Nihilism' where you see 'enlightened gurus' abusing their power under the guise of 'nothing matters, there's nobody there' etc, which is even more dangerous than your average nice person with a healthy 'ego.' In terms of the 'pre-destined' view point, I wouldn't buy into it too much, sure there's likely an astrological outline or whatever for your life, but if you go shoot heroin or jump in front of a bus that would fuck it up a little bit, follow intuition & good feelings, I personally spent a lot of time trying to mentally understand a fuck ton of concepts and in the end it drives you crazy haha. If you can, find a teacher you resonate with to work with 1-1, that's what helped me more than anything, Satsangs etc are great, but most the time yoiur listening to other people's specific issues / hang ups, and maybe get 5 minutes to discuss your own

The essence of these beings

I don't often disagree with @Michael569 but I couldn't disagree more if I tried! Bitcoin & Crypto is about as conscious as possible when you research deeply and aren't looking for quick cash. The premise of BTC originally was built on freedom from central banks & P2P cash transfer, of course Crypto has evolved, as has the blockchain, but the premise of DeCentralisation remains. I am not gonna argue there's certainly big players & corruption like in all markets, but I'd recommend researching deeply before investing, and finding projects & businesses you believe in inside the crypto space as well of course the blue chips like Bitcoin & Ethereum. The space is still very new and is continuously evolving, this bear market is the perfect time to research and begin your investing journey in the crypto space, those that do best, like in any sector of life, tend to specialize and develop expertise in one area, so that's what I recommend.

To be honest, a lot of spiritual & non-dual folks may shit on therapy & traditional psychology but I think near enough all of us could benefit from some form of it. You mentioned abuse & coping mechanisms. sounds like you need a good old therapist. As much as the Neo-Advaitans might tell you there's nobody there, if the trauma / feelings still arise around certain issues, there is literally no downside to getting it looked into and hopefully resolved. Forgetting you're still a human being is one of the main reasons you see all these Gurus developing crazy cults or having sex / abuse scandals.

Yeah, I'd say he knows when someone is basically begging him to say something, when in reality he knows its up to them to find it out themselves. He's been at it 15 years, he's pretty good, although I believe there's only so much someone can do when they're given 10 minute question slots, personally I think 1-1 is far more effective. Just like how if you wanted to get really good at a sport you'd hire a 1-1 coach, group sessions can help, but the 1-1 is where the magic happens. However, I understand with mainstream teachers like Spira, Tolle etc that'll never happen and their 'role' is different.

The Power Of Now when I was 16 haha Best Non-Duality book is 1000 by Ramaji imo, cleared up 100000 questions I had & led me to Ananda (& RASA) who was the perfect teacher for me. Rupert Spira's 'You are the happiness you seek' is awesome too.

Not linear, do both But, personally I think when you're young you should experience life as much as possible, not saying don't focus on practices and what not, but don't neglect other areas of life

@Johnny Galt I also wouldn't be surprised if the opposition parties in most countries also have ties to the WEF, they can't let the silly public ruin their agenda now can they!

+1000

Guess its a little bit of an SD / Spirituality question. But, how does humanity get to a point where it goes 'beyond' wars? I don't necessarily mean individual conflicts, but more on an overall level, in that, tensions are settled differently than war threats or actual conflict. Is this even a possibility? Is war something that will basically go on forever in some capacity?

Haha, I'm only 22 and 100% want to get married and have a huge family. Maybe I'm too traditional, and I know it isn't for everyone, but the idea of marriage & having a family seems great to me once you're ready for it (and I believe that differs for everyone) I also think Marriage / Family really helps sort a lot of people's lives out, almost like the meaning of family, helps them create e meaningful life in a myriad of other ways. But, I'm also very extroverted & social, so the idea of having a busy household, lots of family events, lots of sporting events etc, etc, sounds absolutely brilliant to me, for others that might sound like hell, we all have our preferences. One thing I would say is don't do it for the sake of it, do it because you want to! @Nahm it's certainly something on my dream board