mandyjw

Phew!

The only reason this question is asked is because we live in an age of absolute luxury and choice. You can order take out, hire a house cleaning service, get daycare, there a vacuum cleaners, etc. Running a house, cooking, cleaning and raising children well is a phenomenal amount of work. It's funny how we focus on the remaining problems and inequalities when really, we live in a sort of paradise. Male or female, do whatever you want. Kids or no kids, marry or not, work or not, no one really cares.

If you look at it like a journey of going full circle, a baby starts where an enlightened person might end, in a way. But they are going the opposite direction around the circle and they are going in one direction of developing the mind and the ability to distinguish, then coming back around to dis-identifying with the mind again using those very distinctions and mind they developed. Babies don't distinguish between their hands or body parts and their environment. No inner, no outer, no duality. They have to learn to function but the psychological identification usually (almost always, always?) comes in with that as well. It's that psychological identification, not the thought "my hand" exactly that's the problem. The pain of cutting your finger is not a problem but the suffering of the thought that someone could have avoided cutting their finger or looking for someone to blame for the pain (self or other) is psychological identification/suffering.

Masks are a huge part of the culture for several reasons, Japanese girls even cover their mouths to laugh and smile. Cleaning is an almost spiritual practice. I have school age kids and the amount of viruses and respiratory stuff they bring home is absolutely ridiculous. It's far, far worse than I ever had when I was a kid, my Mom is a teacher and she notices the increase too. Flu B was still going through the school like wildfire right before they closed to prevent COVID. I get them their flu shots and they often get a mild cold when the flu goes through and they will have classmates out for weeks with bronchitis. We really needed to change our hygiene standards in schools and public places before this happened, especially since the world is only getting more interconnected. I think during future flu seasons a lot of the measures doctor's offices have put into place should stay in place. I've always thought when I go out to get a prescription, go to the doctor or groceries when I'm sick (which is unavoidable) I should wear a mask, but everyone would have thought before this that I had ebola or something. It's just the right thing to do, like washing your hand after using the bathroom and before shaking someone's hand.

@seeking_brilliance Insights themselves are tantric. Insights can only point to what is not, they are only pointers, never anything more than that even those they may coincide with profound changes in feeling or your state. Because there is no "not" you can only deny the false. Everything is false. Insights point to love or they point to denial, love itself is the great denial, the great Unknowing. There's no two paths, because there's not even a destination.

@traveler Magic is all mine mother fuckers. End of story. You'll never find my horcruxes so don't bother looking or writing a story about it to thrill the imaginations of boys and girls. They'll just love to hate me. Rupert Spira talks about them as Vedantic and Tantric paths. The two paths are one, both are needed but differentiating between them can be quite helpful.

@allislove Thanks, congrats on being a mod!!! Love the new look.

Is light a wave or a particle? Is enlightenment nothing or is it light? If it's nonduality, not two, then how come we have the word two and the word not to name what we're talking about in the first place? There's no resolution, no ending. Thank GOD for that cause otherwise, this, (whatever the fuck this is, cause I don't know) wouldn't be so much fun.

"Not caring what people think is it's own kind of hustle." Why? Because I can't NOT care. Don't think about pink elephants. Oh......Ohhhh.....!!!! Yes of course. Of course I don't have a soul, and neither does anyone else. Also I can never know victory nor defeat. I sometimes wonder if this youtube channel is going to be the death of me.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt "Not caring what people think is it's own kind of hustle."

So this one is a bit weird and sort of shows the more generally thought of as feminine side of spirituality. You're a living painting with a spectrum of color (duality) on a Snow White canvas (nonduality). "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" - I'm Wishing/One Song

No no, remember is a girl.

@kindayellow Strange advice that I find really helps, especially since you mentioned the social media distraction problem. Make a list of things that inspire you. Not big things, but not excluding them but this is really to think small. Comic strips you loved as a kid. That youtube video that made you laugh so hard you haven't forgotten it that you haven't seen in years. A game. A favorite book. A favorite song you haven't listened to. A small easily completed project you could do. Just brainstorm all those things and write them down. When you feel like it, pick one and do it. Try to do two or three everyday. It's amazing how the inspiration for really big life changing inspiration can come from such little things. Inspiration is inspiration. You're wasting time on social media because you don't have the momentum to do big stuff, so the idea is to do little stuff intentionally so it will grow in momentum. Good luck, hope you're feeling better.

Hmm... I have a massive crush on her. She is scary woke/smart. Like in Alice in Wonderland, some people around here seem to talk in nonsense sometimes. We're all mad here.

@DoubleYou LOVE. Especially the first one.

Where are the fruits and veggies?

It helps to appreciate just how subjective looks are anyway. The reason we think it's not subjective is because of memories of peers, Hollywood, magazines, models and popular culture. Even societies favorite "ideal" look changes every decade. It's all built on a foundation of nothing. Attraction is an an incredibly personal, unique, living, breathing artistic thing when it's allowed to be on its own without all kinds of colored perceptions and standards assigning value to self and other in that way. It goes beyond the visual and physical. Beauty can't be quantified. That said, even our most shallow favorite traits we find yourself attracted to are strangely quirky. Most people you talk to have weird, quirky specific things that they are attracted to. I think that women are more free to act on the unique things they are attracted to because they are less afraid of being judged by others for picking a partner based on those criteria instead of what they think they should find hot. Then even your own favorite traits to have in a partner can be forgotten if someone with the right energy walks into your life.

Organ meat was sacred to the Native Americans. Though the quality and toxicity of farm raised meat is likely much different.

The mind constantly wants to check in and ask "how are we doing". It's worse than kids in the back of the car on a long trip repeating "are we there yet?". Just watch and notice your mind when it tries to check in on itself like that.

@RedLine Have you ever had the infuriating experience of having someone feel sorry for you over something you weren't even suffering for and didn't even feel like you were missing? Like for example they felt sorry that your parents were too poor to take you to the carnival but in reality, roller coasters make you puke and you'd much rather have stayed home?

Subjective. Has no real substance behind it, it's based on nothing. Happens completely all on it's own and also paradoxically seems completely controllable. I stop imagining monsters under my bed and they no longer scare me. I stop imagining my bed in deep sleep and nothing bad happens.

My problem with the analogy (one of them) is that it implies that falling in love is the result of a massive desperate effort that both suffer for. That's not accurate, unless you believe that's how things should be and so therefore that's how you also experience them. Like attraction, love happens, just the same as shit happens. Well, it's not really about what would make me happy, sadly cause I've noticed that when people change just to make me happy I only ask for more and stay unhappy. I used to think that the D&D was a complete waste of time but I've come around to appreciating it a lot more.

Hmm.. this actually worked for me quite well. Husband plays D&D instead of lifts weight but oh well, it was either that or alone with 10 cats. Yep and since everyone was saying "don't have sex", everyone had tons of sex. Now that people think they should be having sex they don't have sex.

@Max_V Have you looked into Temple Grandin? She has some great insights into autism. I have a 7 year old son who has mild autism. One thing I've found in my research is that it's important to be aware of weaknesses, but also more important to become aware of and develop strengths. In my experience people on the spectrum are gifted in certain areas and if allowed to follow their interests those interests then have a way of giving them the strength and motivation to develop in the areas they are weak in. That's pretty much the story of Temple Grandin's life. She has written a few books and has several talks on youtube.

Have you read the Gospel of Thomas? http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html Also check out the other gospels, I especially love the book of John. Jesus speaks in riddles quite often, it can take quite a long time to understand many of them (weeks, years, decades, lifetimes, who knows ) but when you do it's worth it. I would suggest reading them straight from the source and doing serious contemplation on your own. There's nothing quite so rewarding as that in my opinion, I like teachings straight from the source, but it's also great to have some help interpreting sometimes. Just keep in mind that following interpretations of original nondual teachings is how religions get started.