WelcometoReality

I can see that my comment could be interpreted in such a way so thank you for making me clarify it. No apologies needed you did not come across as aggressive at all.

Mind can never see that it's fiction. The only thing that can see that is the one seeing thought.

I've been the master of worry and anxiety so I know the feeling. Your actions might cause certain outcomes but what will the fruit of you worrying about it be? Try to untie yourself or enjoy the grand view of the forest fire. The thought that it will burn you will only cause you more suffering.

Oh it was not easy to let them go. After a good 10 years worth of depression those thoughts were really hard wired in the system. Doing something with the body makes it easier. Dishes/walking/exercise make you connect more to the body and less with the mind. What I mean with waste of time is feeding into the thought that you are a shitty person because that is acknowledging the thought. Making it believed.

Hmm why bother fixating on the illusion that you are a shitty person? Those are just thoughts from your conditioned mind. Why let them waste your time at all? When I had these types of thoughts and I saw that they were just thoughts without any basis in reality I did the dishes instead or went out for a walk.

The absolute or consciousness, nothingness, infinity and everything. Not the conceptual man in the clouds that we may have believed.

A healthy ego is more coherent and well functioning in the world than an unhealthy ego. This is where personal development comes in if that is what you want. How can an illusion be aware of anything?

Yes, Just don't try to stop judging thoughts to happen. Resisting the thoughts will only feed them.

No life isn't always pleasant. Life tends to go up and down. What we tend to do is enhancing the ups and downs through thought. So if we can see the way we do it, especially during the downs, life quality tends to go up. My father has MS and it is gradually getting worse. He probably has a couple of years left. I could easily create suffering by believing the thoughts that life is unfair, it shouldn't be this way etc. If your ex girlfriend has cheated on you you might start to distrust your current girlfriend by believing certain thoughts which will create suffering.

Only if you believe it to be true.

Of course all words are just pointers. If you don't want to go there that's fine.

@28 cm unbuffed Maybe enlightenment doesn't exist. You won't now until it hits you. But you can easily see your own illusions can't you? How you create your own suffering? When we start to deal with those beliefs our quality of life begins to improve. Maybe it doesn't matter whether it exists or not?

Yeah. I think that spirituality can be used as a tool to see through our own illusions which cause us to suffer. And when we do that we will enjoy life more and more. If enlightenment happens, great. If it doesn't then we at least have increased our life quality. Essentially stop struggling trying to get there and instead enjoy the ride. Because we never get there. It is always here.

@Godheals I think the better approach is to start finding the middle way. Don't force things, that comes from an egoic desire. Start listen to and trust your self. It tells you its needs. You don't need 10000+ hours to realize what you are. Realizing is more an effortless effort than a forcing breakthrough.

Is emptiness and being the same thing or how do they relate to each other?

I'm not saying that being is aware. I'm asking you how you would describe it.

But what would you say is aware of that? "Aware" is a concept pointing to your direct experience. "Being" is a concept pointing to your direct experience. What is aware of experience?

I'm not talking about concepts. I'm asking you to look within your own experience. If being is not aware what is. Or is there something that is aware?

look within your own experience. What is the difference? Is there a difference. We can't help you to define truth. It has to come from you.

Is being aware of itself?

It's seen as you being the absolute and then there is everything else. So it can be seen as everything else being a dream or illusion. Just be aware that there is more to it than that.

@Identity there are different types of awakening. Awakening from mind. which is awakening from thought. You no longer believe to be the person you thought you were but being no-thing instead. Awakening of the heart. No longer separation. A sense of there being one. A feeling of being everything. Awakening from the gut. Which an awakening from the most existential part of the separate self. It takes time to embody every realization. A rewiring of the body-mind to embody truth.

@Highest Sounds like a wonderful realization. When fear drops away it's a big relief for the system. All imagined limitations drop away. It always go deeper though but it always feel complete. That is humbling to realize.

Yes, surrender to what is or letting go is one of the most fundamental practices in my opinion.

@Anton_Pierre Let go of the effort to be in certain states and resisting other states. Let it flow effortlessly.