CoolDreamThanks

Self enquiry. Used to do vipassna but I didn’t like the effort part, so switched to efortless beingness.

I think life is a reflection of our core beliefs and of our state of mind, as we are the dreamer of the dream. It’s an outward picture of an inner condition.

Don’t you mean saying affirmations and visualizing things by manifestation? That’s what most people refer to and that’s what I was reffering to. Thought that’s what you meant and that is limited and surface level and doesn’t really work.

Upon further contemplation I think that I wasn’t correct there. While there is pleasure and pain, trying to fight against our idols is a fight we are bound to lose and it brings alot of struggle. If we are already One with God, then we don’t need to do anything to be deserving of his Love. We are innocent and worthy of His love now, there is no need for sacrifice, as I wrote in my response to @Javfly33

Manifestation is a stepping stone on the spiritual path. It’s valuable as it can teach the power of the mind. However, those who tried dedicating themselves 100% to manifestation likely noticed that sometimes it seems to work, but mostly things don’t manifest as you wanted.

100%. Yet another nuance to this is that trying to fight against them is an even greater resistance. For the longest time I believed in the idea of sacrifice - I have to stop doing things that bring me pleasure in order to reach enlightenment. With that came alot of internal struggle and misery. However, what healed this misperception was the words Keith Kavanagh, an ACIM teacher shared: Importantly, the Course doesn't ask us to renounce anything. That would be sacrifice, and sacrifice is of the ego thought system and not the Holy Spirit's. We just want to gradually undo our clinging and resistance - allowing things to pass through our experience without grasping at them or trying to push them away, not deal with them, or repress them. We work on allowing all things to be exactly as they are, with no desire that they be different, or desire to cling to things in this moment that will keep us from fully engaging with the next moment. So, in keeping with the spirit of the original post, what we want to undo is our belief that anything in the world is the source of our happiness or our pain. We don't have to let people or things go, only to learn to need nothing from them, extend Love to them, and undo any neediness that they must be in the next moment. Here’s how chatGPT summarized ACIM teachings on sacrifice: In **"A Course in Miracles" (ACIM)**, the concept of *sacrifice* is addressed as a key theme, and its interpretation is quite different from traditional religious teachings. ACIM views sacrifice as an illusion, based on the mistaken belief in separation from God and the ego’s interpretation of giving up something valuable to attain something greater, particularly to please God or achieve salvation. Here are some key points: 1. **Sacrifice is Unnecessary**: ACIM teaches that God does not ask for or require sacrifice. It argues that the idea of sacrifice stems from the ego, which promotes the false idea that we must lose something or suffer to gain God's love or spiritual reward. This belief only reinforces the ego's perspective of lack and limitation. 2. **Love Involves No Sacrifice**: True love, according to ACIM, is free from sacrifice. Love is abundance, completeness, and unity. It is limitless and cannot be diminished. Therefore, if one is giving in love, there is no loss or cost, and no sacrifice is involved. Giving love means extending love without losing it. 3. **Sacrifice and Fear**: The course suggests that sacrifice is closely linked to fear. The ego convinces us that sacrifice is necessary to protect ourselves or achieve spiritual goals. However, this belief is based on fear, not on the truth of our divine nature. True spiritual growth comes from understanding that fear is an illusion, and in reality, we are already one with God. 4. **Release from Guilt**: The belief in sacrifice often stems from guilt, the notion that we must atone for past sins through suffering or loss. ACIM teaches that guilt is a false belief created by the ego. Instead of sacrificing, the Course encourages the practice of forgiveness, which leads to healing and the recognition that guilt is unnecessary. 5. **Sacrifice vs. True Freedom**: ACIM holds that the belief in sacrifice leads to bondage, keeping us tied to the ego’s thought system of loss and pain. Freedom comes from recognizing that God’s Will for us is only happiness and peace. By letting go of the idea of sacrifice, we embrace the truth that we can experience love and joy without the need for loss or suffering. In summary, ACIM rejects the idea of sacrifice as an ego-based illusion, and teaches that God’s love is unconditional, requiring no sacrifice from us. The path to spiritual awakening involves letting go of the belief in sacrifice, embracing love, and practicing forgiveness.

I don’t know what you mean by awakening. Haha, something like that 😁 👍👍

Additional thoughts (which after further inspection are wrong, see below posts as to why): Romantic relationships are the main idol in this dream. The addiction to them is so deep, it's a core desire, like sex and food. We want relationships for intimacy, pleasure, companionship, meaning, peace. These things are our birthright, but we go about it in an incorrect way. True intimacy, true pleasure, true meaning and true peace is only found in God. The desire for romantic relationship, for sex, for money, and all other idols has to be re-directed back to God. Desire cannot be spread out across multiple things if we want true happiness. God has to be our only goal. It literally feels like desiring for a partner or sex, this desire for God. But God is like the purest partner in existence - She doesn't tolerate a breadcrumb of cheating. If you turn your eyes away from her unto someone else - She interprets that as cheating and leaves you. God, if you want to experience all of Him, requires all of You to be fully dedicated to Him only. Letting go of idols happens only through wisdom. We must see the pain our idols bring us in the end. It's literally this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaxt347IrFw&ab_channel=iano Most people go around not knowing what they are doing, they think they are seeking happiness, whilst in truth they are seeking for something that will hurt them the MOST. It takes a very wise being to see this and to stop doing it. It's the end of all dreaming. This universe has invisible scales of pleasure and pain. The more intense the pleasure the more intense the pain will be. Romantic relationships offer us the deepest connection, the sweetest sexual experience, the most beautiful nights spent in the arms of our lover. All of this goes onto the pleasure end of the scales. Now, as we all know relationships end and usually in a very painful way. It is usually something like cheating. How deep is the heartbreak when the love of your life, what you considered your soulmate, cheats on you? As deep as the cumulative amount of pleasure was. It's psyche-shattering. It can make you kill yourself. And it's not hypothetical. It happened to me and it happened to you. Not cheating, but the end of a relationship with the love of your life. It's the way this universe is set up. The scales of pleasure and pain are everywhere. You enjoy tasty food? Cancer will eat you alive, literally. It's not a hypothetical, it will happen. You love porn? It will re-wire your brain so that you will not be able to have sex with humans, besides other psychologically damaging things it does. You want a big house and a nice car? Prepare to lose your psychological and physical health to attain that desire. Also be ready to lose it all. There is no winning this game, Morty. Look at Leo - how much he suffers because of his physical health. Look at the world, take it in, see what it is, and let it go in exchange for Infinite Heaven for all eternity. The catch? The journey back home fucking sucks too. Meditating for months on end is so painful. Healing the metaphysical separation from God trauma requires for it to re-surface and that is painful as fuck. But there is no other way - only directly through it. I stopped after 2 months because of the fear and the pain. I'm stuck in a catch 22 - if I stop meditating and dedicating myself to God, there looms a meaninglessness behind every thing I do - I know what I am doing - being mesmerized by the illusion of death. If I do meditate - I get miserable as the unconscious trauma surfaces and I have to work through it. There's a shitload of it. The good thing is that once in a while there's an experience of bliss and the work itself is the only meaningful thing one can do, so it feels like genuine improvement, not just mental masturbation with concepts.

Hm not really, I would stay aware of awareness itself without directing it to objects. It’s a switch to an abstract, invisible domain. Even when I have to direct it to an object to interact with it, the silence is there as a background and after the need for interacting is finished then the silence comes back to the foreground.

Just silence, staying present or whatever other term you want to use for that inner place of non-judgemental, abstract awareness. My schedule was meditating all day long whilst sitting, walking, eating, showering. If I woke up at night I would sit down and meditate too. No specific hours or anything. The idea was to let go of all idols for a period, so no internet, no talking, no thinking about spiritual concepts, etc. I did work for 2-4 hours per week but that’s it.

You know when people have sex and say oh my god, oh my god? That’s an idol. We make whatever gives us pleasure into our personal god. In general, an idol is everything that we desire and value in this dream. It’s an idol because it mesmerizes us and keeps us away from that inner place of stillness where the true God dwells. Letting go of all idols is a long process, probably life-long. But when we do, we then make a place for true God to re-awaken.

@caspex Hi, I think emotions are a product of your beliefs and the thoughts that arise from those beliefs. If you believe that life is materialistic, made of atoms and that’s it, you will feel and live one way, but if you think that life is a divine creation you will feel another way. You can also generate emotions by thinking specific thoughts. Sometimes, when I walk around I think: “I feel the Love of God within me now” and I feel a certain level of joy. In regards to negative emotions, I find that stoping the thoughts that created that emotion and then observing that negative emotion is the key to healing it. Although for a moment it feels bad because you have to put your attention on it. Our attention, if it is non-judgemental, pure awareness, has a healing property inherent in it. Then, perhaps it’s wise to look at what caused that emotion, what do you believe so that you feel that way? I think feelings are a good guiding star as to whether what we believe is true or not. As an example - some non-dual teachings propose the idea of no free will. I believed it and it felt bad. Then I investigated that belief, found it not true, changed it and felt better. On a more human-to-human interraction level: I play video games and sometimes people insult me, so I simply observe the emotion that arises from that insult and it dissolves in a few moments. The key is to overlook the error they have made in perceiving you and to be firm in your conviction that how they perceive you has nothing to do with you, they are more than likely simply projecting their own self-hatred onto you, as it reduces it a little bit in their mind, but also recycles it and keeps them stuck in a cycle of hatred. It’s the “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do” teaching. Or I can argue and hold onto that insult, attack them and then negative emotions grow. Not the optimal choice. 😁 I used to say you’re projecting bro, but that also enflames them, so the best thing to do is definately to quetly overlook the error, remain present, and remove yourself from the situation if possible. hope it helps 🙏

Thank you! Thanks!

Hey, happy to see ya. Hehe, perhaps premonition is inherent to our minds, but just like other gifts, it can be covered up by the ego. We are all one, so it does make sense. Dunno.

Thank you and happy to hear that. 🖤 On the other hand, I do think that it is perhaps one of, if not the most, meaningful thing this body can be used for - to communicate with the purpose of awakening. thank you for pointing that out 🙏

It calms down the system. It’s the diet most suited for most humans. It’s light and harmonious, like God himself. It helps you feel better and it’s much easier to meditate when you feel good. Digestion is linked to the mind, so if you eat easy to digest foods, the mind will be easier to manage. It’s also saying - I give myself fully to you, God. Because you stop trying to get satisfaction from food and only look to God for joy. I did learn to enjoy simple food after the addiction for spicy fatty sugary food went away. However, I know people have unique health issues and for them, it might not be the best. Also, when I am not on a retreat I don’t eat sattivic. Love burgers, pizza, churrios, they are a few of my idols in this dream. Yet, whenever we seek for pleasure through the body we eventually find pain. I try to eat without guilt, but I know the consequences of it.

Wow, it’s rare to see a movie with substance.

People on the spiritual path think that improving spiritually means being a better ego — thinking better thoughts, being kind, etc. They don’t notice that the same sick mind that is in Trump and Tate is in them now, it’s just pretending to be a good and spiritually superior mind. Trump feels superior because of human things, you feel superior because of your seeming spiritual achievements. it’s easy to trigger spiritual people into their true nature, like Leo calling his students idiots, and so on. funny how Leo projects his own devilishness on Trump in his blog. That’s what ego’s do - they hate themselves for what they are, but deny it and project it onto others, who are easy victims - like Trump. think about it — why would Leo judge trump if he knows that it’s all just his dream and he created Trump? Something twisted is going on here. He’s the same as Trump and hates it. You “spiritual” people have to accept that this mind is and always will be sick and twisted, and kill it through stillness and silence. there are no spiritual people, you are either Spirit or a mind, they are mutually exclusive. This mind has to understand what it is and choose against itself in favour of God. that’s how you awaken and make this psycho universe dissapear once and for all.

Every ego hates himself, because he knows that by him merely existing, he is, moment by moment, killing God. If the ego himself died, then God would have a chance to re-awaken. That self-hate is then projected onto the world, people, etc. Why do you think Leo, from a higher level, is punishing himself in this dream? He doesn't understand where the suffering is coming from, as he lacks wisdom just in general, but why would his higher mind make his body suffer so much, if it didn't feel tremendously guilty for what it is doing?

Yes, Gnostics got it right, just as Jesus did in A Course in Miracles, where he says that ego created this world as an attack on God. This is a hellish realm. The devil even sends spiritual teachers, like Bashar and other new age guru's, to entrap humans into this domain, by making them believe that this existence is good and they can create a heaven on earth through manifestation, although it never really works. Seeing that life is suffering is what motivates us to let go of it all and surrender to God, until we return to the formless Heaven forever.

Amen. That's all we need to know. Let's drink the sweet nectar of Silence until it brings us back to the Heavens.

@Salvijus brother, how can I listen to anything you say when you don't even know that life is a dream, which is the main metaphysical concept the Course attempts to teach? Jesus literally says - you are hallucinating. Those people you see - they are completely unreal. Regarding manifestation - Ken Wapnick, the man Jesus appointed to teach the Course, clearly says that Jesus does not attempt to teach you how to improve your dream, but only how to escape it. He literally says that this dream will never become Heaven on earth, which is what Bashar teaches. So you know better than Ken Wapnick, right? You studied the Course more than 30 years, more than him, so you interpretation is correct? You say life is not a dream, so you know better than ACIM, Ramana, Nisragadata, Ananda Ma, Leo, and many other mistics. For me, your words carry as much power within them as a single strand of a dandelion fluff. Let's not discuss metaphysics with one another ever again, we are in completely different worlds.

@BlessedLion It's definitely not for everyone. It's deeply intellectual and full of metaphors and analogies. It's also holographic; within every chapter, there is the whole Course, but in different words. It's also written in a weird format, starting with the 50 principles of miracles, which you can't understand unless you have first done the course. In the end, it says the same thing Ramana Maharshi does, but with many more nuances and in a difficult-to-digest language. Whenever the Course uses words like Holly Spirit, Voice of God, Miracle, and Forgiveness - it's all the same thing - stillness and silence, or as Ramana would call it - Self-enquiry. Many people, including me, don't like the format - how it takes 1333 pages to say the same thing repeatedly in difficult language. It came through a deeply intellectual psychologist who also liked Shakespeare, so the Course was written in the Iambic Pentameter, a style of poetry Shakespeare used. Ken Wapnick, the person Jesus assigned to teach the course, is extremely intellectual and deeply involved in concepts. Interestingly, the Course says its whole point is to bring us beyond concepts. So yeah, it's for a certain type of person, mostly those who are interested in concepts and intellectualizing. David Hoffmeister, one of the most popular ACIM teachers, attended university for 10 years, so he naturally liked the course because it was so intellectual. Ramana Maharshi is the complete opposite of that - he says in one minute what the Course takes 100 hours. The message is the same, though. Oh, by the way, I know that within Conversations in God, God supposedly says that the same Source wrote ACIM and CwG, but to the trained eye, they are completely different. CwG focuses so much on manifestation and living the good life, while ACIM is about escaping from the dream and doesn't mention manifestation at all. In fact, ACIM says that you have to let go of all the idols you have made in the dream to return home to God. I think CwG is just the same new-age message that Abraham and Bashar teach, while ACIM aligns with the true mystics of the ages, like Ramana Maharshi.

Ramana and ACIM teach the same thing bdw It’s obvious that you haven’t done the workbook, as the whole second part of it is all about silence.

Uh, oh, our little brother Salvijus doesn't even know that it's a solipsistic dream and is already teaching others.