Consept
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Posts posted by Consept
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Hey man, all the advice given so far is great, definitely get beyond your thinking mind that really is key. But to touch on something specifically, you mentioned your biggest issue is the opposite sex as in developing relationships. In this case its really important to see where this is coming from, you basically have at some point put the idea in your head that if you could just get a girlfriend then you will be ok, this type of thinking is almost the opposite of working on yourself. Its because you're ok already that a girl will be attracted to you, its just that you need to realise that yourself. So working on yourself means working on yourself as in working toward loving and fully accepting yourself regardless of how much money, girls, spirituality etc etc that you have. Really this whole thing is about realising you don't need anything really and then once you don't need it and don't wrap your salvation around it you are then free to attract things into your life, still aware that you don't need them to change you
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Wanted to share a recent experience i had, it happened about a week ago or so but i thought people might find it interesting.
I hesitate to call it an enlightenment experience because I'm not sure it was but don't really know what else to call it. But anyway, I wasn't doing anything special i think just chilling at home, i had recently upped my meditation to twice daily, once in the morning and once before i went to bed, so my thoughts generally seemed a bit clearer than normal. All of sudden it struck me that I wasn't actually any thought that goes through my head, it wasn't that the idea struck me but i actually felt as if i was looking at my thoughts from a distance and was completely separate from them. It was amazing in itself but it wasn't like i felt i could do anything now it was just like 'what the hell was i doing all my life, I've literally been living a lie!'.
Everything just seemed to make sense and every thought, even thoughts like I want peace of mind or i want to be enlightened just seemed like the stupidest waste of time, not necessarily having them but believing you are that voice in your head that is talking. Then great compassion came over me, I started to feel sorry for everyone that has to live life through their thoughts as if they are real. I felt sorry for myself having spent so many years wrapped up in thoughts. It became so clear that thinking, or rather believing your thoughts are you is the biggest waste of life there is. I realised I was just the awareness that was it, no judgement no nothing, I'm simply awareness, everything else is not real, everything else is a concept created by my mind. I was aware of my thoughts but very aware that those thoughts were nothing to do with me really.
It only lasted a day or 2 and then my mind came back into play and i switched back to the thoughts, however with an important insight that deep down i know they aren't real. I guess its just the habit of being identified with your mind, also it would be counter productive to fight being identified with my thoughts i just have to let them play out with this new found realisation. Anyway since then i have felt a lot more i guess 'being' which feels like me being myself without trying to be anything, which is still cool but nothing like the initial feeling of literally being awareness. also i would've been able to describe it a bit better if i did this whilst i had that feeling or straight after but it is what it is.
One thing i would say is having any idea of what you think enlightenment is or getting trapped in logic and trying to understand everything with your mind will not actually help you on your way to enlightenment. There is no way to think your way into it, it is purely a feeling that will come about once you let go of 'yourself' whether by accident or on purpose. It cannot be reached with your mind because everything in your mind is a concept and not an actual experience. It can only be arrived at experientially and to be honest its right under your nose, you just have to know deep down that your thoughts are not you, you are complete awareness and nothing more. Mine or anyone elses words can only encourage you, they can't bring you to it, you have to do that within your own experience.
I only had a glimpse of it but, just that alone made me see that there literally is no point in living your life through your thoughts, its not real! And finally enlightenment literally is not what you think it is
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Interesting that someone brought this up, my Facebook page has been swamped with opinions either way, so its interesting i think to hear what people who are essentially on a journey to lose their identities (i include 'myself' in this) feel about an issue like this.
Being black but also being a human it does dissappoint me that people can't see why its necessary to have a movement such as 'black lives matter'. Black people have obviously been marginalised in various aspects of society, this is why you get things like BET or 'black' films or magazines or whatever because in the mainstream its almost as if black people aren't included. With regard to the killings of black men, it would seem to me that if you have a society that sees 1 race(I believe theres only 1 race btw) as threatening or less than the majority race, which can be shown in bias tests etc. Then if thats mixed with a country that allows guns the causal effect will be what we see happening now. The reason it seems to have exploded now is because of camera phones and social media, in reality it has always happened.
For it to stop or for people to finally see each other as equal then this has to happen until the mainstream society recognise this major discrepancy in terms of how people are treated. Whats sad is the excuses and justifications that people come up with, which is essentially saying everything is fine how it is. So the question will be how bad does it have to get before people hold their hands up and say its wrong, whats worrying is that there still hasn't been an official apology for slavery (there has been for pretty much every other atrocity).
I would like to hear peoples honest opinions on this though
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To me desperation comes from lack or a scarcity mindset ie I don't have so I need to get as quickly as possible. Whereas inspiration is more from abundance because you're doing something not because you feel you have to but because you're inspired to do so, as you say it comes from being
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I've done quite well making money on ebay and I'm now going into amazon fba. Might be worth looking into. But I think generally there are a lot of opportunities online to make some money, it's just not an overnight thing you really have to be patient and learn the techniques, but I can definitely say if you stick with something that someone else has made money with you most likely can as well
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I guess with pick up or in general life, it's quite easy to good at seeming authentic. Certain looks you can give, things you say, coming across honest etc, but this can definitely be a learned skill.
One of the tests of whether you're being authentic especially when talking to people would be are you looking to get something out of the interaction. It could be that you want sex, reassurance, an ego boost, whatever it is if you're thinking about an outcome then you're adjusting your behavior for the best chance of that outcome. To be authentic there would have to be nothing in it for you and like you say you're just moving through a state of being.
Very hard to master, for me personally it's difficult because I'm always aware of when I'm not coming from a place of being but I feel in the moment I can't do anything about it. Prob like that for a lot of people
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Hi @electroBeam , I get what you're saying it can be difficult to apply the spiritual stuff of basically 'just be authentic' when you're going through something like social anxiety. Although meditation and things will help. Anyway it's something I've been through especially when I was your age so I made a video about it a few months ago that I hope might help you- YT anxiety vid
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Lol you kinda reinforced @DJ s point.
15 hours ago, GigaWiser78 said:I think the main issue is that I struggle to "organize" my thoughts into a coherent whole
sorry again, but I think I may have comprehension or/and articulation impairment to some degree
Sorry to laugh but you put yourself down for not understanding that you're putting yourself down.
If you can't see it, your issue seems to be that you don't think you're any good and your associating your identity with what you're not good at. So you believe that inherently you're not smart enough to make progress or you're not good at creative writing.
None of these are actually your problem, your problem is you keep making problems that don't really exist. For example creative writing is a skill, the more you do it the better you'll get (if you practice anything for 20 hours you'll get to a decent standard). But you've already said to yourself you're not good at it, as if naturally you're not, therefore you've failed before the attempt.
So advice wise, you need to build up your confidence and trust in yourself that you have 2 arms and 2 legs like everyone else and can do these things, don't put yourself at a disadvantage from the go. It's your frame that needs to be changed, the content is irrelevant. Also you should just watch your thoughts and try not to caught up in them, that way you can see the little tricks it does
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Really your mind will find reasons to not do anything new, especially something that seems counter intuitive. What I've noticed I'd most things that don't help you in the long run watching TV, eating crap, playing computer games, whatever, your mind has no problem with but when it comes to reading, meditating, other positive stuff your mind will give you a ton of reasons not to do it. You have to break through and make these new things a habit
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The real question is why do you feel the need to tell people? I'm not saying you're wrong for this, I'm just saying explore within yourself why you have that urge.
A lot of the time it's because you want to validate those beliefs to yourself, it always feels better when you can convince someone else of what you believe, if you talk to any religious person this is always the case.
But from my personal experience of having this urge to tell everyone I know when I first learned about this stuff, people will only learn about when they're ready. This could mean they accumulate lots of stuff but are still not happy so look for meaning elsewhere, it could be they're going through hard times and start to question things, it could be they're trying to improve themselves and stumble upon it. Whatever is they have to get to it themselves and their journey is a necessary component of this.
After I read power of now, I was blown away and I bought 5 copies and gave them out to 5 friends, only one of them read it and understood to some degree what it was about. So majority of people will not get it. What I think is the best way to get people involved is not talk about it but you be the example, when they see how you live with consciousness they'll end up asking you (or being jelous), and at that point you can share
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Just to put this question out there to everyone, do you think once you start down the road of what Lorcan has set out ie say you start a decent paying job, how hard is it to get off the track? Reason I ask is a real issue is resources, so you may need to work a certain amount of time to get you money for your own business or monet to travel or whatever you're trying to do. But I can see that a lot of people may start with that intention but then get caught up with and reliant on that guarenteed income
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Hey, a lot of people, myself included, go through this thing of trying to get your self worth from outside of yourself, specifically from other people. It's almost like it's been so ingrained in us that we don't realise we do it and in fact are convinced that if they just get that thing or life that everyone would want then we'll finally have 'made it' and be worth something.
I felt like this for the longest and actually tried to change how I naturally was to gain acceptance. The problem is you become a slave to whatever is the common mode of thought and none of the decisions you make are actually yours.
So what should you 'do'? Begin working on your integrity and self-esteem, put yourself as the most important person that to please not everyone else, if everyone says your dumb for reading books, back yourself and don't agree with them (not saying fight with everyone, just defend your corner).
Also become more conscious in general, be aware when you're going against yourself, even if you don't take action, watch it. Meditation, as well as taking time just for you really helps seperate the fake you from the real you. The other thing you got to think is if people only like you because of your people pleasing personality do they really like you at all? Give yourself a chance to be you
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'Love' has been marketed really well in the western world, so what happens is it builds expectations of what love is. These expectations are usually why less and less people feel satisfied, just because they expect so much from it. It's sold as the answer to everything pretty much, what's funny is that in most films, the film ends as the couple get married, so that in people's minds is the ultimate goal, whereas relationship wise it's still the beginning.
Love I think is something first and foremost you have to experience within yourself, at that point loving someone else is an expression of that, but it is important not to look to outside influences to guide what your love should be, you have to take it as it comes and not rely on it to cure you of everything you're worried about
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This is really a practice and if you do it consistently you'll notice improvements across the board.
So when you interact with someone you'll notice your ego kind of takes control sometimes, this is because you're aware that someone is listening and potentially judging you (most likely they're not and they're worrying that you're judging them). So the mind will start going into the mode it's been used to, this could be things like trying to prove to the person you're what you want them to think you are, whether it's smart, business like, spiritual whatever. Your intention is to prove to the person your that thing and not to just relax and have a conversation with them, so what happens is you don't focus on what they say too much just about what you say. This is just one but there are loads of things your mind might do automatically, you may find it more pronounced say with parents as your mind is used to reacting to them in a certain way, it could be that you want sympathy, praise, even negativity from them because thsts the dynamic you're used to.
So the practice is really to be aware of all these things your mind might be doing and just watch them without reacting. Once you become aware of what your particular mind habits are, it becomes easier to not react to them in the situation. Also be aware that you are interacting for the sake of ineracting and being in that moment, not to get whatever your mind/ego wants from that person.
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Your friends in this situation are really only the catalyst for how you feel inside already. So the fact that you can't stand your ground woukd suggest that your ego is scared of being rejected for maybe saying the wrong thing or that it wants to be liked.
So really it comes down to you improving your self - esteem and having trust in yourself so that you can express yourself as you want and need to. At the moment it sounds like, even on a sub - conscious level, that your stuck trying to improve your self esteem by acceptance from external factors, in this case your friends. It's good that you have then there so you can practice and improve staying true to you in their company.
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Ok but, Eckhart Tolle for example had a sudden realisation (according to him) when he was about to commit suicide, he was not aware of what this was on intellectual level and actually researched a while afterwards. For him it was a switch in thinking but he was not aware of what exactly had happened, but didn't care as he was just being. So it literally did happen by accident for him as he wasn't specifically aiming to be enlightened as he didn't even know what that meant
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Why is it impossible?
Yeah its hard to tell, I think in general true artists would be more in tune with that 'source' or whatever you want to call it. I wouldn't have thought of the question for many other well known artists, there's just something about his non-conformity and also how he comes across in terms of the music being the most important thing, some ones might be Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and John Lenon, funny how they always die young.
Thanks for the book recommendation, I'll check it out.
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Exactly, I never said he was enlightened I just said he reached self actualisation, as in the definition of something like Maslows 'psychology of being'. This in itself I believe has value, if you've read that book you'll know what I mean.
But here's a question for you, if he lived every second of his life fully in the moment and completely being who he truly is, (which maybe he did maybe he didnt), even he's not conscious of it on an intellectual level, isn't this in itself enlightenment? It would strike me that if hes not actively desiring to be enlightened, thats at least one less desire. Also the manifestation of his enlightenment if he is, is not ours to define, it could easily be the manifestation it was, music etc. There are a couple of interviews where he's talking about not being attached to anything he does or owns, this is a very transcendent attitude in itself.
I do get what you're saying, enlightenment is beyond self but my point is this could be achieved in many different ways
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Overall the reason why I say he was self-actualiized as a person is that he seemed to be uncompromising in who he was, meaning he just wanted to make music, whether it made money or not (there were a few albums given out free to fans). He didn't seem to be bothered with fame in the later years and didn't really care about labels, politics etc.
Being liberated to me means being who you are regardless of any societal pressures, in general there's a huge amount of pressure even on normal people to conform in various ways, dress, opinions etc etc. I say prince was liberated because he seemed to just do things he wanted without any consideration of societal norms, I would imagine as a famous person there would be even more pressure on him to conform which he didn't seem to have felt. I mean for a staight, black male in the 80s to wear make up and the clothes he wore was pretty much unheard of, let alone fashionable.
I get what you're saying but I think it's a bit presumptions to say he was deluded or was not in touch with something deeper. I think a lot of truly creative people are in touch with something deeper and are able to tap into stillness to come up with creative ideas. Many musicians speak about this, when they try and write it doesn't come to them but in moments of stillness it feels like it almost comes out of them.
Also your desire to experience what you want to experience is no different than any desire to experience anything, you still have desire there and an assumption that enlightenment is the goal as oppose to just being. So your salvation is still in the future rather than right now, meaning you'll always be chasing.
I also don't believe he was distracted by material things to a great extent, he seemed to be very about the music. Also it's come out now after his death, that he spent a lot of time doing charitable works, in fact a lot more than you'd think, but he specifically never talked about it.
With regards to religion, yes organised religion is not something I buy into personally, but it's a bit arrogant to say that you can't tap into a certain spirituality with some of its messages. For example a lot of what Jesus said was similar to the buddha, and in fact if you take out the dogma and look at the bible as symbolism and metaphor (as i believe its supposed to be interpreted) there's a lot that makes sense. So you don't know how he saw the religion, obviously he wasn't strict on it or preached it publicly.
My whole point in this post is that within self-actualisation or spirtuality in itself can become quite dogmatic, as in you can only be enlightened or self actualized if you do certain things, ie meditate, read books from yogis etc. To me I think it's very possible for someone to be self-actualized and not even actively work on it because they're too busy just being, whether that's as prince or pauper (see what I did there).
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Admittedly apart from listening to a few songs here and there I hadn't really paid too much attention to Prince, mainly because he was big before my time. But having listened to him in interviews and clips since his death he really comes across as a completely liberated individual that just did things that were part of his being rather than following trends or what society or labels would've wanted from him.
I actually feel really inspired by him, I feel he lived to the maximum of his being and was a completely self actualised person. We should not only learn from yogis and speakers but I think we have a lot to learn from people like prince also. What you guys think?
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Just interested in what people think. There's a divorce rate of over 50% now in the US and UK (not sure the stats of other countries) and from an anecdotal perspective there's not many relationships I know where the people involved seem happy, it either feels like they're trying to convince themselves of it or they've just given up and are just going along with it cos they're scared to break up. I'm talking about long term relationships or marriages btw obviously the first year or so is usually smooth.
I've heard genetically that we're disposed to be attached for 3 years or so which is enough time to procreate and start raising the child.
Also if you think about it, we're in one of the first generations to be very strict about monogamy in terms of cheating, most generations before us it wasn't really a big deal and was one of those things where it was kind of accepted but not spoken about.
Anyway check out the video and let me know what you think, I'm not really for or against either just think it's an interesting topic
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Love that!
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In a broad sense they don't really matter (although they might help you know the difference between affect and effect, joking). I dont believe they'll stop you from doing anything you want to do, obviously they need you to think they otherwise they become pointless.
But the real answer is it depends, it depends on what you want to do, so if you want to be a doctor you will need certain grades and qualifications for that, you do t necessarily need to do it at school but it's a lot easier and cheaper to do it that way.
On the other hand if you wanted to start your own business you can learn everything you need to from other sources. Even normal jobs where qualifications are preferred rather than required, if you have a good understanding of psychology and what people look for or really food experience you'd still have a good chance.
So really it's about using school as a tool rather than the be all and end all
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I get where you're coming from and I did notice that comment from Leo myself, which I don't think I'd agree with also but that's his perogative to do that and doesn't affect me really, point being don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The other thing I noticed in your comment is where you said 'answer for life'. Enlightenment (I don't really like using the word) isn't an answer for life, life doesn't need an answer it just is and so it's the realisation that life just is. I would see it more as the full acceptance of life and your position in it which is as part of a bigger whole.
in Personal Development -- [Main]
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Practice consciousness throughout a normal day, when you're talking to people, when you're shopping, when you're eating etc etc. Meditations good but practice staying conscious when things are going on