kbone

@deci belle Thank YOU. I've always appreciated the Taoists. I once even lived in Taiwan, partially in an attempt to be nearer that cultural influence after having been exposed to them in my search. Seemed like the thing to do at the time, hehe. The passage you quoted is in a style of communicating on these concepts that a gentleman used to share with me. I always appreciated the directness. We can never learn "about" What Is, but, if sincere, honest and willing, something might be read that can arrest one's usual way of thinking "about" it. In that seemingly eternal moment, it's as if light in caste unto a shadow, and the weight of what was seemingly ignored drops. In essence, true learning may not be about "gaining" knowledge or perfect practice, but about Realizing "absence" and the Peace that is eternally available to anyone. HERE. Right NOW. TRUTH.

It’s a good cautionary sign that one has waded too deeply into mind when one starts attributing human qualities to god and universe. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it can be a rabbit hole, and in the spiritual search, there are plenty of those. If in meditation or just doing self inquiry, take note of how often such thoughts lead one deeper and deeper into that raging river of the unconscious dream of “me”. If it happens, no problem (it will); objectify and just ask the “me” why or how it keeps doing that so often, and then give it space. Insights could emerge out of the darkness. That’s more likely to be intelligence that one’s looking for.

I hope you keep adding to this collection of material on Advaita Vedanta. Some good stuff. If you are interested, consider including other classical “lineages” like Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta Maharaj. It might help folks get a glimpse. ? ??

Authentic Peace is often a cure for many diseases. Of course, the journey across the netherworlds in the process of losing everything one holds dear can bring on certain undesirable ailments, scuffs, and bruises. But those, in hindsight, will just be seen as incidental attachments, perfectly so.

Yes, peeps need to be exposed to this blunt message on occasion. If nothing else, it will cause one to stir in their sleep and make them wonder, “Am I dreaming?”

Hear, hear. In perfect unadulterated clarity, all is perfectly so. Come what may.

@deci belle Great stuff. Non-locality is a key insight. Yes, touching mind brings in the bifurcation for perception, distinguishing, labeling, memory, etc. Seeing through the constructs of self, all thoughts, beliefs, and other self-referential definitions that have formed the bars to ones psychological prison simply can fall away.

I spent a bit of time in India and Pakistan, as well as Central Asia. I always noticed a bit of a "difference" between Sufis and what I'd term "hard core Muslims". I typically found sub-continent Sufism to be more tolerant and/or secular to some extent and even participated in festivals and pilgrimages when invited. Of course, the world since 9-11 has changed some of that geographical interpretation. Your thoughts?

Be honest with yourself about "wants" versus "needs". Seek the insights to see how such perceptions came to be. Notice how one part of the mind says this, while the other says that. That's confusion of the split mind. Then, notice how the mind comes up with another focus to hide from having to deal with that confusion, which then becomes a part of the substrate... another layer. More wants then come into desirous perception. Always more... the distractions are endless. True letting go is born of insight into the structure of self, which is the illusion kinda holding the whole thingy together. Takes effort. Letting go is effortless, but the mind doth protest.

What layer of mind a) assumed one didn't have permission before and b) gave rise to the impetus to make the statement? It's likely a mom/dad/familial issue that has created blocks of sorts. I'm no psychologist, but yeah, that's my 2 cents for where to place attention after one has centered oneself in silence. Or maybe, try finding that silence, going into it, and THEN as if a friend, ask the mind to start giving you insights on this. Be specific. Peeps are often surprised by what a relaxed and more properly functioning mind will offer. And yes, have courage. Also, have a look at Triune Brain theory (here are the basics), as well as the idea of having a cerebral brain AS WELL AS a hormonal brain. You might be surprised how intelligence is so much more than most assume, thus we have more recent studies on things like emotional quotient, cultural quotient, etc that show us the cerebral brain is often the last to "know".

@Barbara As an ex-professor who doesn't know your entire context and sees that you are well past the half-way point, I would recommend finishing what you started. It may seem like a slog to get there, but nothing like the one it took for you to get here, to this present moment. Plus, the slog is only made harder by your resistance to it. At some point in your life, you worked hard and wished to get into law school, and the universe provided, hehe. It is also an opportunity for you to be aware of your mind's ways of drawing your attention from the task at hand.... just like any other meditation. I do not know you, but I have seen so many students sabotage perfect opportunities, and in such a large variety of ways. I understand there is something "else" that has caught your attention and started to generate some passion in that Latin heart of yours, but completing your law degree is not going to stop you from pursuing it AND the opportunities that open up to you afterwards. To be clear, there's a greater chance of the regret pursuing you. But yeah, absolutely, I get it. The 20s were an extremely tumultuous time for me, as well, so I know the allure of such potentials.

Yes. Tat Tvam Asi in which the dance of Maya entrances ones attention into the manifest dream of existing as some "thing/self" separate from THAT.

@Breakingthewall @James123 is pointing at Truth. To Realize Truth is to back up and Realize what is prior to mind. The mind is a bifurcator, and fundamentally is dualistically oriented. All labels (nouns, adjectives, etc) are arranged as such and help to distinguish things/movements in the flow of thought and/or communication. The story about the "spiritual search" is for THAT (Nothingness)... call it Void, Emptiness, Infinite Space, whatever you want... just labels given to something that cannot be expressed, only pointed to. All "things" that appear in that Nothingness are not inclusive of what is Whole (i.e., not inclusive of the unrealized Nothingness).

@Tim R Yes, what is not Truth, does not exist. Truth Exists. What most struggle with is the belief that outward appearances will reflect the Source as Truth itself, as if the world should make sense to the limited aspects of mind. They then often try to align their thoughts or learn "more" about Truth, assuming all kinds of things to be true/real/whatev. I assume he means that he introduced facets as kind of like sign posts, or perhaps just conceptual ideas used to communicate with. He'll have to clarify his take. Thought about Truth is not the same, so in some ways, yes, it's deluded (like diluted). Don't mistake the words, conceptual models, feelings, senses as the Truth. I'm sure you've heard the saying, "The Dao that can be spoken is not the Dao". Truth is prior to mind, so escapes words, which are dualistic from the get go. They cannot grasp Truth/Existence, only describe it away. It's where we might introduce a distinction between Awareness of Consciousness (i.e., Stillness within which Consciousness moves). Pretty wing ding subtle stuff. Either way, great to hear of your realization. Must have been a baptismal shower, hehe! Now, you can settle into the realization. I would not recommend trying to extrapolate too much from it, but instead see if you can align with the subtleties more. Not sure if that makes sense.

Be sure to use rebirth control. ? Patterns are generally rooted in unconscious conditioning. Exploring one’s conditioning is key to becoming aware of when mind prefers to go unconscious and rides out its patterns. They are often oriented for pleasure and against pain (mental, physical, psychological). To “seek” and/or “cope” leads to all sorts of shenanigans, but the fact remains that mind maintains its role as master, when it is predominantly reactionary.

That word is indeed problematic once IT is Realized. It’s the better question worth exploring.

Imo, no study of esoteric Christianity is complete without a good hard introspective look based on the more non-dual aspects found in the Nag Hammadi. Of course, the key teachings would likely never have made it to the King James Version. But who knows...

One foot on the pavement and one foot in the milky way And I’m soaring Soaring My branches scrape the sea of stars My roots dig deep into this world of ours And I’m grounded Grounded My reality is what I perceive What I attract into my orbit Worries fade into the haze The air feels different this time round Different this time round Let’s set sail Start a fire Learn to live a little higher Let’s pick the lock Grab the reigns Forget there ever were chains Cause there never were chains Days move on and times they change In a blink of an eye things rearrange We’re moving Moving We’re sucked in and we’re spat out On the other side of the rabbit hole But we find our way Find our way Do you want to be just a machine in this crazy society? Pick the lock Grab the reigns Forget there ever were chains Cause there never were chains

Suffering is directly related to and dependent upon the belief in and the identification as a separate volitional person. To become conscious of that illusion is to end suffering and be free of the prison of the mind, a bird in an empty cage. That awakening inspires further clarity, as one becomes more conscious of Being Consciousness.

@yangmilun All of life is a movement. All creatures seem to register it at some level of other. But, as humans go, each has a cerebral cortex which enable all sorts of creative uses of its abstractions. The concept of time is a way of quantifying any such movement, Point A to Point B, whether physical, mental, or otherwise. These are all just "labeled things" appearing in/as Consciousness. Quantifying requires a mental construct using agreed upon terms and generally shared notions of what the terms reference in regards to apparent movement. The key is to understand that the quantifying is a mental construct (i.e., just as the self is). The word illusion itself is just a term that refers to its opposite, reality, fact or truth. Most peeps regard truth as something that is not wrong, or not a lie; whereas, in discussions of things spiritual and whatnot, Truth (capital T) refers to a break with the consensual reality trance-like state to a purely Subjective view that exists prior to the individuated mind in which mental constructs are, welp, constructed (usually unconsciously). It might be noticed that when peeps are genuinely on a spiritual search, the narratives can get pretty whacky, intense, otherworldly, or even insane-sounding. Once this is acknowledged, it is easier to see why it is important to be clear on what the context is in a given situation before making such a statement. I digressed here to make a point. To say that, "time is an illusion" is to specifically refer to the latter context just above, the context of seeking or having Realized Truth, not necessarily the consensual reality one in which, generally speaking, peeps are referring to day-to-day interactions. If one is seeking Truth, then yes, they will need to come to terms with time being an illusion because it is a mind-made thingy, always subject to its impermanence. But, once Truth is Realized, then it would behoove the newly minted dream-character to more-or-less play along with the agreed upon mental construct when trying to get shit done, especially when interacting in cultures/businesses/contexts that HIGHLY depend on, respect and/or value punctuality, precision, and efficiency.

@Preety_India I am happy to hear that you have found a place to help transcend some of the culturo-familial limitations you've grown up with and/or experience on a daily basis. It is one of the benefits of the web and being able to find a netizen community you are more aligned with and can grow with through interaction. Living through a mind that has divergent views, in comparison with those of mainstream cultural norms, can be quite exhausting, so it helps to get a sense you are not alone and are able to express yourself openly. Having spent quite a bit of time in India and on the sub-continent, I can imagine (to some extent, anyway) how hard it might have been for a free spirited person, such as yourself, looking for a sense of expansion beyond the given paradigm. Interestingly, I think it helps to "hear" many of the ideas that perhaps your own religio-cultural background propounded, but in a way that is less dogmatic or constrictive. Re-approaching them with a different light can help to put them in context that is more suited to you, or just empower you to throw them out altogether. Anyway, I could tell you were genuinely grateful, so I thought I'd chime in. Aram se, sista ?

Attempting to stop thoughts is attempting to re-condition the mind to stop itself from carrying out its function. You can try it, but notice the conflict created and never resolved. It pits the mind against itself, which is a battle, in the end, it will lose. What may be more advantageous is to bring into greater awareness the profound subtleties of mind, which include cerebral thought and emotional feeling. You could do a little research to understand the mechanisms and functions of these basic two aspects (i.e., cerebral brain versus hormonal brain) and how they interact as the mind-body organism and psychological self. It gets interesting. The "nothingness" you speak of is more likely the mind trying to "project nothingness" as a means of attaining something, when in fact, that's just a mind game. Mind is movement within the Nothingness that one already is, the Void (as Zenners call it). Mind wants nothing to do with that; it wants to maintain control, so it is very likely happy to assume that it understands this "nothingness", when in Truth, it can't.

If it was "any other way", it would be that way, too. No? Perhaps you are asking if The Infinite includes infinite infinities. Or, maybe you're just alluding to different perceptions, but those are still within Infinity, hehe.

God, Existence, Truth, Being... whatever you wanna call it, simply IS already the case. It's the thoughts and beliefs about it, both conscious and unconscious, that typically lead one astray from HERE. IT is not provable, only Realizable, because there is no "other" to whom to prove. Being is Self-evident. If someone feels they "must" do something (anything, really) specific before they can "realize" Truth, then they haven't Realized. As such, there is an ignorance of the a-causal actuality of Being. I'm not saying that no one should "try" to find Truth; just saying what is already the case. To say it is otherwise would be to delude. Having said all that (hehe), how one verbalizes Being/Truth/God/etc can often give clues that lead to a pretty decent bit of probability of whether that person really knows what they are talking "about/from"..... IF the one listening has been and/or IS HERE. That could take a little bit of discussion, probing, and pointing which all amount to what might be called "dharma combat". Such romps via the mind, can be like using finer and finer grades of sand paper to smoothen wrinkles in hard surfaces. As one comes to abide more and more as Being, realizing more and more when IT/Consciousness touches mind, clarity arises and it can shine its light on that constantly present (relative) darkness of the mind and its games.