vizual

All your actions contribute to the strengthening of the ego, including meditation. Until they don't.

Have you ever done self enquiry, Saarah?

No, this is wrong. An enlightened being does not suffer when he is hungry or thirsty, hunger or thirst also arise in what 'IS' therefore does not create suffering. Also, an enlightened being is not striving at all since there is no one anymore there to be striving for anything. There is just being, and just being can take care for itself just fine.

What qualifies you to be spiritual teacher? Have you awakened?

I like how Alan Watts talks about reality being this chess game where God only has himself to play with. So for the game to be fun he has to find a way to convince his left hand that it's separate from his right hand and vice versa, even though they are still a part of the same nervous system. What separates me and you? A thought. But our physical appearances appear in the same thing called 'being' or 'experience' or whatever. But that thought(or judgment) also arises in this same being. So judgments are a part of "the game", so to say. It is possible for judgments to subside eventually out of your experience, it's when you recognize your true nature of being.

Music is just an expression of reality. An array of high, mid and low notes arising in a joyful rhythm on a cloud of silence.

Do the things you fear the most. Without putting yourself in significant physical danger of course

The most easy thing for people to relate to is to think back of when you were a kid, like pre-teens. Before you had any issues with "acceptance" and before all the image and ego-problems came in. Did you just sat still and did nothing in this time? When you really look at it, those years are probably the most "productive" years you ever had in your life. You learned at least one whole language, you learned how everything in your environment worked, you were constantly exploring, constantly playing, creating, adventuring. And at this moment you are still creating, every moment of everyday. You just keep creating the same things over and over in your head, that's called an ego. When you fully accept reality you can't help but realize that all you are, can only be defined as change or energy or consciousness. Nothing ever stops changing, even if it seems it does.

Who or what is going to drop your concept of 'me'? You can only come to the conclusion there is nothing to be dropped. The things you, as an ego, consider to be you is just everything that is in resistance to what is. If everything in your experience is in full acceptance to what is, then we are getting somewhere. Even the ego, whatever that means for you, has to be fully accepted. The ego is not going to leave the premises just like that. Only when everything is accepted as equal, can your thoughts align themselves with the present moment. The ego is not some virus that is hiding somewhere in your brain waiting to be vaccinated, it's just a pattern of resistance.

Another Zeitgeist documentary telling the 'truth' about society. The person who made this 'documentary' has not a clue what enlightenment is. More than likely it's a person who is suffering from a lot of paranoia and suffers from deep disappointment and depression in his or her life.

People enjoy suffering, and they enjoy making other people suffer along with them, to justify their own suffering. Of course, they would never admit this, they wouldn't even know who they are if they weren't.

If it's really bad maybe you should see a therapist, especially if you are also having signs of depression

There is no more "next" after enlightenment, whatever happens happens You can make up all these beautiful stories what you might do when you become enlightened, but as long as you are holding on to these stories you are not done yet.

@Heart of Space What are you running away from in life? What are you scared of? Where do you keep grasping at? If you are at it for 2 years and have nothing there probably is something you are desperately trying to not see, to not be fully honest.

You can never know what will become of you when you become enlightened, just like a fallen leaf can't know which way the wind will blow him. But it also doesn't matter any more, because whatever you currently regard as 'your life' is really just a fantasy. Sure, there are events happening that are being interpreted as some person's life, but the narrative that is being attached to those events are just a story. It's not up to ego's how all the events play out, they just do.

No, when you become enlightened there is pure joy in being. There is no more ego claiming to be 'enlightened'. Sure, a person might say he is enlightened, but if he truly is enlightened he does not believe he is enlightened, because he knows there is no one there to be it. You have no control over anything, you never had. Only the illusion of control exist, because you have confused the true self with the thoughts of a self. And as long you are identified with an ego you will suffer, suffer and suffer. Until you had enough suffering. Your actions just arise, just like your thoughts. You are not choosing your thoughts, nor your actions. They just come and go. It only feels you have the control because you take your thoughts to be true. And as long you are identified with your thoughts you are basically a slave, worrying about what your mind will say and demand next.

I'm not sure how this works, I only have an intuitive sense, but I believe all beings come into existence to become free of their karma. When a being is still wrapped up in their karma they are not yet "enlightened". If baby's were free of karma they wouldn't have come into this world. That's why people say that "we are all here for a reason". There is stuff here on this planet to do for each of us, and if there weren't it wouldn't make any sense for us to be here at all. I'm not saying life has this grand purpose of become free of karma, it's just that's how the flow of life goes.

I'm vegan but I'm getting sick of this tiring debate between vegans and non-vegans. The 'human' was not designed, it adapted to its environment in a way that it maximizes its ability to survive. The human can digest cooked meat just fine, the human can produce lactase to break down lactose in dairy products. When you look at European countries, the people there actually produce naturally more lactase than for instance African people. It's harder for African people to digest dairy products. All this says is that the human species is very adaptable to the food that is available in its environment. Both sides of the argument of the debate between if people are 'designed' to be meat eaters or not, is ridiculous. The world is in constant change, be it environmentally, biologically and ethically. So why am I vegan? Because humanity is more and more waking up to the Truth, the truth of the illusion of separation. Which comes along with respect for sentient and non-sentient beings. Animals have the ability to suffer. Plants ,probably, have not. Still, the plants deserve to be treated with respect and grace.

The past can be helpful to become mindful of the issues that are still dragging on in our present reality, but it isn't necessary. It can illuminate things to see how the past obscured your view of reality today. But the past is not really real, it's only a projection in the mind. But if these images in the past still upset you in the way that you still feel intense pain when they come up, there is still work to be done. So in short, do you need to dig up the past to work on your problems? No. Is there work to be done if you are trying to repress events in the past? Yes.

Resistance x Pain = Suffering. The less you resist, the less you suffer.

No need to dig up all your past demons but seeing through the belief systems that do more harm than good in your life can change your reality drastically, for the better. You gotta own up to it though, you can't play the victim.

Do you really want to give your power away by trying to fix your problems by trusting a process you don't even understand? You can do it, it might even work. But what if a new problem pops up, are going to let yourself be hypnotized again? Wouldn't it be way more satisfactory if you found out the root of the problem and address it yourself? So you can look it in the eye and see it's just a toothless tiger in the light of truth. But do as you wish.

Listening to music while doing a strong determination is pretty stupid. The whole point of the sitting is to transcend all the thoughts that come up during the sitting, to see these thoughts are not 'you'. It's very tempting for the ego to escape into the music to distract itself from the discomfort. Which only defeats the purpose of the exercise. You can also see that in all the gyms, and people exercising, that they use music to push through the pain of the exercise, but they only use the music to escape the pain, they don't want to fully allow the pain into their experience. To make progress you have to fully embrace everything that come into experience, it's only the thoughts that judges experiences as either bad or good. The purpose is not to push yourself through the time as if you are proving something to someone, the purpose is to realize that these thoughts have zero control in themselves. The thoughts are there, but they don't hold any weight. Embrace the silence, the void. No music, no distractions.

What do you think the reason for your social anxiety is? Just going out and forcing yourself to interact with people will probably help some, but might not relieve all of your anxiety. Almost everyone knows very well to communicate properly, especially verbally. We don't need to acquire more 'skills' for communication, it's a problem of not trusting ourselves. When you become liberated there aren't any barriers anymore, since barriers can only exist when there is identification with the mind. Remove the barriers and you remove the anxiety, remove the anxiety and life will find its place effortlessly. Ne need to 'improve' oneself, one is already perfect. Self esteem is part of the natural state, all work toward self esteem is basically setting conditions on your self esteem, and conditions will always be violated sooner or later, conditional self esteem will always be tested and broken. When you become liberated there isn't anyone to have anxiety anymore. Don't give too much weight to these mystical experiences you describe, they can come and go but hold no ultimate value. Look at the roots of your anxiety, are your worries rooted in truth? Or are you just imagining them?

Move to China harhar