vizual

The whole philosophy of education needs to change. At the moment, school is pure brainwashing. They hand kids all kinds of information and command these kids that that information is the truth and nothing but the truth. This creates a very unhealthy society where the whole world view of people is severely compromised. The focus of education needs to be on what knowledge is, who I am, who you are. How I relate to this world, and what my role to play is in everything. School needs to be about exploration, both inner and outer. So when you then are released into the 'real' world you have a sense of what the fuck actually is going on. When I finished high school I had loads of useless stuff floating inside my head, but I had no clue whatsoever what really is going on in the world. It's hard to fault them because even the teachers and the people in charge of education also probably have no clue about the world as well. This is also a bit the joke of society. The people who are in charge have no clue what it's all about, and the people who have a sense about things don't want anything to do with the current establishment. Even if a sane person came along to change stuff the majority of people would probably revolt against it if they are not ready. Like Bill Hicks said, we always kill the good guys and let the demons run amok. The message that good guys bring to this world are often too painful for people to face, because this means that we have to face that we have lived as a demon all our lives without even seeing it.

The fact that this is even bothering you tells me that there is something inside of you that you are not facing. Maybe an issue with self-love? I can't tell but there is something. Telling the parents to lecture their kid about it is totally useless. The kid probably smells some kind of fear in you, kids love to poke at that.

True beauty is found inside. When you find it and appreciate it your external reality will find the beauty in you as well.

You can, but I'd imagine that an enlightened person would be way less inclined to actually attract an obscene amount of money just for the sake of it. He realizes he can easily do so if he wants, but what is the point of attracting more money than you actually need? An enlightened person already has everything he ever needs, what's a bunch of useless money going to do? Sure, he can still make a living, buy a nice house, a nice car. But getting 'rich' for the sake of it is pure ego, not something an enlightened person would be bothered to indulge in.

I can also run the ultramarathon I just need to get off my ass and train

I think existence does exist. But only as a potential, it's not really happening right now. Like a movie being stored on a DVD, but the DVD never gets played, the DVD is just there. The DVD contains this beautiful pattern of data which degrades in intensity like a gradient. And what you think you are experiencing is one tiny piece of this gigantic pattern. But, of course, the 'real you' is the entire pattern..

@abrakamowse Yes but the transformer is also the transformed. When I create a painting of a broccoli I could say I transformed the paint and canvas into a painting. But the broccoli could also say he transformed a person into creating a painting of a broccoli. So a broccoli is just as much a "transformer" as a human being. (aka non-duality :p) But then you might say; well I have free will and the broccoli does not. I beg to differ, the 'one' who thinks who has free will is also a painting of the universe.

It's a lovely sunny day today out here and I decided to take a nice drive in my convertible through the local hillside. While driving an analogy of personal development popped in my skull. When I first got into personal development what I thought it was all about putting the pedal to the metal, giving full gas to achieve my goals. But it never worked out, either I burned out physically or mentally(or both). Then after some recovery time the whole proces started all over again. Just grinding it out never got me anywhere. When I really started making progress was when I was able to switch gears. When you go 40MPH in second gear your car will struggle a lot, the car will have a very high RPM. Now keep doing this, not only will you burn through your gas tank way faster, it's also a matter of time before you destroy the engine. Shift to third or fourth gear and you will be able to go 40MPH with barely any effort at all. The danger is in thinking that putting the pedal to the metal is a constructive way to reach your goals. And in some sense, it definitely does work. If you go full gas in second gear you will undoubtedly go faster than when you just cruise in second gear. Just working your ass off will get you more external results than just cruising along. But again, you will ruin the engine if you keep that up that high RPM. It can also be very frustrating, when you are working your butt off to reach your goals only to see other people way more successful who barely seem to put in any effort at all. How can it be that some people seem to have a lot of success without, seemingly, any effort at all? Why does succes just flow into their lives and not in mine? Because these people know how to switch gears. They know giving full gas will get you nowhere in the long run. They can go 120MPH without any effort because they know how to switch to fifth gear. The other cars who are stuck in second or third gear will look in amazement to this fast car, they will say the fast car has a better engine, better aerodynamics or whatever(genetics/talent excuse). But they have not realized they are also able to go just as fast as the fast car, they need to get their focus off of the gaspedal and switch to a higher gear. You can struggle along all you want, as long as you stay in second gear you can only go as fast as how your second gear is tuned. Meaning, everyone who knows how to switch to third or fourth gear will blaze you by without a sweat. So, how can I switch to a higher gear? First realize that nothing you do with your conscious effort will get you into a higher gear. You trying to struggle, put in effort, exert yourself etc. will only result in upping the RPM of the engine. To switch gears you have to loosen the grip of your hands on the steering wheel, so you can reach for that stick. It's the ego that is keeping you in second gear, the ego is the gear. The ego does not mind to go full gas, the ego does not mind to suffer, but it does mind if you try to go to third gear. Going to third gear means the ego has to let a part of himself go, a part of the ego has to die if you want to be able to switch to higher gears. You have to see that the ego is not a fixed entity, it's malleable. Here we get into the enlightenment/meditation territory. You have to watch the ego, watch the thoughts. You are not your thoughts, you are not the ego. Your thoughts arise in your head, but they are not your thoughts. There is no one who is thinking up the thoughts, the thoughts only arise and go. Only when you loosen the grip of the ego can you let parts of it go. You really don't have to be fully enlightened to reap the benefits of this, but you do have to get a taste of how the ego tricks you into keeping you right where you are. The only way to let go of the ego is to see through its trickery with awareness. Awareness is not only they key to enlightenment, it's also the key to a successful, joyful and happy life.

It's all about resonance. Use the wording that make you feel good inside and don't make them too vague. phrases like "I am a good communicator" and "I am smart with my money" are phases which are very open too interpretation for your ego. The more vague you leave your statements, the more you give the ego the chance to come up with bullshit stories I would phrase it like this(note: this resonates with me, not necessarily for you): "I love and honor my whole body by only giving it high quality, wholesome foods" "The kindness and love inside of me will reflect the amount of money that is flowing in my experience" "In my interactions with my fellow man I will always communicate clarity, understanding and appreciation, by doing so I will receive the same from them" Something like that. You want your statements to be true for you, only for you. It's about the vibration the words give off. Dry, bland statements don't do anything. That's like watching paint dry for your mind. Make the words come alive for you.

To do, or not to do, that is the question lol Whatever you do, never expect to get anything out of anything you do. Before you invest that 4k I'd ask myself if im willing to piss 4k away and do so with a smile on my face. If 4k is a very big investment for you and you feel you really NEED to get something out of it I would not invest the 4k in a meditation retreat. That feeling of need is seriously going to hinder your progress. Or maybe you are rich and have money to burn, then go for it dude.

That's like asking if your left big toe is a slave to your brain. It can only wiggle the way your brain tells it to, but I doubt the toe will say it feels like a slave when you ask him. The toe is a part of the totality of the body. I'm pretty sure the toe is way happier attached to a nervous system than that someone cuts it off from the foot and is forced to go on all alone. I mean, what is a toe without a body attached to it? What is a man without a community to express himself in?

Damn, listening to this I came to the realization that everything I see is simply a reflection of the flow of an underlying energy. Call this energy Love/gravity/dark energy/dark matter/whatever. Me as a "person" can change nothing to this energy, me as a person is simply a reflection of a local movement of energy. The energy is always moving and it is everywhere, whether we look to empty space, matter or waves, it's there moving things along. Every act I undertake to undermine this energy is useless. Suffering comes into experience when a certain part of you resists the flow of energy. Every sense of separateness is also an obstruction of energy flowing. The ego is like a magnet, it desperately tries to hold on to its perceived reality, it's always trying to resist the flow.

Gratefulness is a part of our natural state. It's just as important to become aware of the things you are ungrateful for, because those are the things that need light to be shone upon, to cast away the untruthfulness.

The very act of thinking is just a form of judgment. Whether you think a person is kind, loving, beautiful, ugly, nice, not so nice. It's impossible to not judge someone(and something) while using language/symbols. By trying to stop judging the only thing you will accomplish is judging your own judgment - and thus will get you nowhere. The only thing you can do is to try to expand awareness. You judge because you see and feel too much separation in reality, you are too invested in the illusion. A good, simple yet practical approach is too start practicing love and compassion more. Both toward yourself and others. When you can sense that you and other are on a level playing field the judgment automatically stops(at least lessens). Your thoughts are only a reflection of how you see the world, you can not change your thoughts, only how you perceive the world. When you become more aware of love - both inside and outside - then the judgmental thoughts will stop. You say you judge people as fat. You probably mean that in a negative connotation. Fat people are lazy, ugly, sick, unattractive, stupid etc. The reason this judgment happens is because the ego is always trying to give order to things. The ego always tries to size up people in relation to itself. You judge people as fat so you can feel that you are higher in the human hierarchy than the fat person. When the ego judges the situation as being higher in hierarchy the ego feels safe. In turn, when your ego judges people as being higher that its own it feel threatened. Your only job is to see that this whole higher/lower hierarchy of people is a sham, an illusion. When you can do that your relationship with people will change for the better.

Why are you going to uni if it doesn't inspire or motivate you?

You have a choice. Stay in the dark tunnel and catch a few glimpses of light now and then - or keep going through the dark tunnel until you reach the light. Either choice is fine but be honest with yourself

You are saying that one will become enlightened upon his death. But then who is this one who has become enlightened? Also when you are enlightened you don't "enter" maya again. There is no escaping or entering maya, it is a part of everything. It's not this separate illusion or something. Being enlightened is just being aware of this "illusion". I would not call enlightenment a state, I think you got the wrong idea there. Don't fall into the trap into thinking that this illusion is bad, nothing is bad. Everything is exactly as it should be. Killing someone to make him enlightened defeats the purpose of this universe, the purpose of experience and expression. Everything we label as good and bad is a part of the total experience

Awareness has not settled 'falsely' into our bodies, nothing is false. A long time ago everything our bodies are made of was 'dead' matter, rocks. Then the rocks came alive as single cell organisms. Why did the rocks come alive? Because the whole universe is oriented towards coming back to pure consciousness, the creator. Our human bodies are a transitionary phase between the rocks and god, gods living in a 'rocky' body. At this moment our collective consciousness still believes we are dead flesh - or matter or rocks. But slowly people are realizing that our 'matter'-ness is only one part of our reality. The more time elapses, the more we will come to the realization we are god - it is inevitable. A coffee table is just as much God, or awareness, as you and me are. The table moves at a different vibration which is needed for God to express himself. A big wave in the ocean is not big if there are not any smaller waves to compare itself with, there is an infinite amount of variations of these vibrations. But at the end of the day, both the big and the small waves are still the same ocean. And that is where this universe probably is going, the stilling of the ocean.

Imo, awkwardness happens when people are not themselves in social situation. They feel the need to put on a mask, then when the silence happens they are scared the real person underneath the mask will get exposed. You are too outcome dependent in social situations. You need to relax and breath. There is no winning or losing in social situations, especially not with strangers. Learn to stay present, no need to hype yourself up for others.

When you are alone, hug yourself(really, try it) and tell yourself you are perfect. Both your strength and weaknesses, your accomplishments and failures. Everything is alright. First love yourself, then share your love with the world and you will find happiness.

Sometimes when anger arises in me it's important for me recognize it--and not get lost in the emotion. When I recognize it(and see) the anger the intensity of the emotion immediately lowers in intensity. In my opinion, everything that angers you is something you attracted via your subconscious. After the angering situation is over, try to analyze what YOU did wrong--what is floating around in your subconscious that is making you angry? When you address that root cause the angering situation will be less likely to manifest itself again. You do have to go to the root cause of your anger, and that is not easy for everyone to recognize in themselves. It's also not fun for your ego to admit that you had a part in the wrongness of the situation. But if you want to grow in life it has to be done.

Hahaha.. No. Most people can find themselves in this description, people have a natural inclination to form a fitting narrative about themselves if they read a positive description which might make them feel special. It's a marketing trick designed to make the subject feel as if the message is specifically for him. I'm sure there is some psychological term for it.

True mystics don't care about money

Don't let your skepticism of society lead you down a path of hatred, that might lead you down a path of terrorism - or worse, politics. Rather choose a path of love, and never compromise your love. Stay critical, especially of your own assumptions. -Is capitalism really 'evil'? -If capitalism is evil why do people don't act against it? -What does it mean to be 'free'? -Why do want a "self-actualized" world? And didn't communists basically promised the same thing?

I'd argue that work pays off, but not hard work. But it's ultimately a matter of how one defines and experiences hard work. If you mean hard work in the sense that you are constantly killing yourself and feel you are always pushing yourself against the stream, you will undoubtedly lose the battle in the long run. If you mean hard work in the sense that you know what you want - and you take the necessary action - while staying congruent and composed internally, then hard work definitely pays off. This does not mean that you never have to make any sacrifices, it just means that you always honor yourself.