axiom

This involves ego and bias. That which is found by seeking in the world is always finite, so always leaves room for wanting. Desire may be the cause of seeking, but it is also the result of seeking. Completeness can only be achieved through desirelessness.

Watch this. Scott is tapping into something here beyond conscious awareness. He says himself that he has no idea how he is able to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgIICQvhqMc What do you think is going on here?

The title of this piece of music is "Death is the Road to Awe". Ego Death ≅ death.

This is true. If you've ever gained a single thing, then you did so in the present moment. Of course this applies to everything you've always wanted. The present moment is all there is. BUT... nothing can be gained and nothing can be lost except illusory things. Everything you've ever wanted is actually nothing at all. No thing. Death.

@JosephKnecht Logic is just a game the ego plays to prevent its own dissolution. Reality will unfold exactly the same way or without any logical processes.

The locus of attention (awareness) does not need a body. If the body is destroyed, then it is "outside" any body. It can be recognised that awareness is beyond the body. It's fascinated by the body, but it is not the body. All appearances, no matter if apparently representative of a "higher" or "lower" truth, are just appearances. Containment is just an idea. There is no containment.

Survival in what sense? If you are personally in danger due to someone's abusive behaviour, then it is not unloving to get out of that situation. It makes sense not to put yourself in danger physically. Equally, if you're unhappy in a relationship for any reason, provided things can't improve to your satisfaction then it makes sense to leave. You can still forgive people in your own mind. The key thing is not letting the trauma or the anger become an infection. That's true survival. Everyone is loveable in spite of any of their supposed traits. Love is forgiveness, compassion and understanding. If you consider yourself selfish, then you're on a path to positive change.

@Preety_India Everything others have said here is true. If it hurts, it hurts. No denying it. But ultimately, you owe it to yourself and your own sense of well-being to allow the hurt to completely dissolve. Otherwise, you carry it around with you and it will infect your own actions and your own sense of peace or happiness. The amount of unresolved trauma a person carries very often ends up manifesting as abusive behaviour towards others in later life. This is why it is called the cycle of abuse. To dissolve the pain you need to recognise that abusive behaviour never exists in a vacuum. It is always the result of past conditioning - or of limited consciousness. Not forgiving someone is in fact totally illogical. More than anything else, forgiveness is love. Compassion is love. One's very ability to love is the result of how far they can extend their forgiveness and compassion to others and to themselves. Open-mindedness is love. Judgement and condemnation, by contrast, is hate. Love is about giving unconditionally. It is not about receiving at all. Love is never felt more than in the giving of love. The amount of love you can give is infinite.

@electroBeam This is an assumption. The locus of attention can be shifted outside / beyond the apparent body.

@Frosty97 Since you're already on anti-psychotic medication you may be aware that some of these things you describe have a pretty high correlation with psychosis. Particularly the idea that lyrics in songs are in some way tailored for you as an individual. I am not suggesting that these symptoms are psychosis-related. I am suggesting that you should be on guard for that.

Mathematics is a very, very, VERY stubborn layer of glue that is almost impossible to remove, but it is not the substrate.

All relative notions of truth are an equal distance from infinity. It depends what you're concerned with - the appearance (including notions) or the substrate. Absolute truth exists, but it is not a concept nor an experience, and it is not in the world. There is no change, only the appearance of change. Truth cannot be found in appearances.

Because he lacks the stability, it seems, to navigate such extreme states. He quite literally terrifies himself with solipsistic thoughts when completely sober, and I don't think that's a good starting point.

Curt is probably a good example of someone who shouldn't do psychedelics.

@SQAAD Noone is suggesting there are no apparent differences. The point is that no matter how much the "real" knife hurts the character, you are not the character. Actually any identification with the character involves suffering. Not just pain, but pleasure too involves suffering. Pleasure is fleeting, is a poor facsimile of total unity and thus leads to wanting.

@BipolarGrowth Neither pain nor pleasure are real, but they are part of the appearance. Identifying with either ultimately leads to suffering. Recognising that you are beyond both leads to bliss. Discerning bliss from pleasure can be difficult. Pain is a great teacher.

Acceptance of pain leads to a much deeper bliss than acceptance of pleasure.

No experience is truth. When you are identified with the body, you experience apparent problems. In the scenario you describe (hitting yourself with a "real" hammer), pain usually happens regardless.

The only thing with any real consistency is nothing at all.

@The0Self All ideas are finite, and are thus an equal distance from infinity.

@SQAAD The point is that at the absolute level, everything is indeed imaginary. At the level of absolute truth, there is no difference between fantasy and reality. At the relative level, dream characters exist on the same imaginary plane as the dream itself. As such, dream characters experience apparent differences between "fantasy" and "reality", and behave accordingly. There is nothing "wrong" with a dream character believing in such differences. This is in fact its most natural behaviour. In the dream - which is largely about survival - it needs the ability to distinguish to survive.

@Leo Gura You’re misinterpreting me. Silence is indeed the best teacher. All efforts to circumscribe reality using finite logical systems of any kind - e.g. human language - are incomplete (as per Godel). The best method to refine teaching thus initially involves employing more concise language, and ultimately - when pushed far enough - ends up in silence. Silence has no constraints.

@Leo Gura Silence is the best teaching, right? Admittedly it’s less entertaining.

@machiavelli He means that different deities representing absolute consciousnesses have separate independent dreams. To put it another way, he means that YOU (not we), are finite, and dream this dream as a point of infinite regression backwards - like how a black hole can expend a small quantity of light. Also, you have to bear in mind that each example of one infinity is actually several, and is expanding outwards. When you become infinite, infinity as you see it will be different from the infinity you had before you were seeking it. What this means is that the world sits on the back of a giant turtle, in turn standing on the back of another giant turtle, and so on... In essence, it's turtles all the way down. I hope this helps.

The whole notion of suffering depends on the locus of attention. A person suffers. If you consider yourself a person then you will suffer.