Key Elements

I like what you said here. I like this word -- strategically. I use a simple pen and notebook to write a foreign language repeatedly. I enjoy that while learning a new language. I take a hike in nature. And you know, I'm planning to get a new smartphone to make YouTube clips. What if you travel around the world living in nature, meeting awesome diverse ppl, solving world problems, and all you have to do is click some buttons on your smartphone. Come on..everything starts with a dream.

Ok cool. Same clip. Tbh, I didn't notice, but I wanted to comment on it a bit more. It's because we're still embodied and still have to deal with our ego. To live an embodied life, we still have to live out our karmas and our ego. And, because of that, the combination of superpowers (if a person actually has it) and ego and karma can sometimes backfire on a person.

Interesting topic, but... There is a difference between enlightenment and having superpowers. What's the difference? Shinzen Young explains here at around 3:30. I really like how he explains it, and how he explains the other things. To me, he's basically saying that one has to move on and go deeper and incorporate the deepest thing to life. Otherwise, we get stuck in one stage or the other in life.

Let me add: You can't objectify anything: not people, not women, not chairs. Why not chairs, even though in daily life chairs are actually objects? Because when a person passes away, he/she becomes one with everything, unless he/she becomes reincarnated (that's a different story). But, ultimately we are one, like everyone is saying in this thread. Ultimately we are one, but how do we work towards living that kind of lifestyle in real life? There comes a point where we have to meet and interact with other people. How you interact, who you choose to interact with, and the topics that you bring up counts.

This is a very interesting question: how do I stop objectifying people? By working on yourself so that you have something to bring to the table. What topics are you going to talk about? Is it useful? Will it benefit both sides? Will it benefit all? Because when you actually meet others and discover another person, no one would want to be objectified (not even yourself).

So, what is awareness to you? To me, in the daily life, there is a difference between keep thinking, thinking, thinking, continously, and then there is being aware that you keep thinking and moving on so you could do something else.

So, the question is: Why is thinking not awareness? Thinking involves thoughts. Examples of thoughts: I'm hungry. I'm thinking about eating an apple. I'm thinking about eating an orange. I feel sad. I feel happy. I feel angry. This is obvious. So, what is awareness? You are just observing without being caught inside your thoughts. You notice that you're happy, sad, or angry. You notice that you're hungry and crave an apple and an orange. Ok, so when these things happen, do you go about your day solving problems? Sure you do. You're just not caught up in your thoughts and making whatever you're experiencing and solving even worse. Another question came up in this thread. Should you go for enlightenment? That is completely your choice.

It could take years to incorporate seeing/being the no-self (enlightenment) into one's everyday life. After "experiencing the no-self," the person is still embodied. Embodiment means one still has to deal with the ego. Mastery of dropping the ego on a daily basis may take time. It won't be perfect. Shinzen Young explains it in each one of these traps. Life, the journey, continues.

This clip is a reminder to work on life purpose and not just get any job, and also to go for enlightenment because it's not the paranormal.

Make yourself a frozen popsicle out of orange juice or some kind of fruit juice. Then you get to suck on it for a while and think of ways not to crave.

So we go back to mother nature with time -- good point.

@Joseph Maynor I heard from a Native American teacher, that certain groups of Native Americans used to say a prayer before they ate their meat, especially buffaloes. After hearing that, I thought that prayers bring up awareness. Now, some people, like women, are more prone to animeia. So, they have to take supplements if they choose to become vegetarian or vegan. I heard from a cardiologist that we are omnivories and that he doesn't recommend meat be completely stopped because of the increased risk of diabetes and obesity.

See, here's the thing. Maybe you want to go into psychology and counsel ppl with anxiety. I dunno. You got to go and find out. Maybe you're interested in this topic.

@Finn Ok. #2 is a good answer. For #1, I answered that question by thinking back to my childhood. I loved art the best -- painting and crafting. But, it was hard to market, so I learned a pictorial language to market art, and in the process, got a job as a bilingual teacher. I'm still in the process of mastery and passive income. So, in other words, all you have to do is figure out what you love to do naturally, and go on from there. Please feel free to have a look at what I did so far as reference. Hopefully, those will help. Please ask if you have further questions.

2 questions #1. What do you enjoy doing? #2. Do you know what's passive income?

Becoming a millionaire is only an upper stage orange goal. To me, it is necessary to understand how to become it, but if that's your only goal, it's not a life purpose. What about the other stages to incorporate into a life purpose? You got to have a plan beyond the orange stage.

The questions are: How much do you accept them for who they are? How much are you able to trust them? If you answer the first question with 100%, that means you love them unconditionally. It's like a mother loving her severely mentally ill child for the rest of his/her life and is willing to sacrifice her life for the child. If both the questions are answered with 100%, that would be a very rare two-sided friendship. Eg. Best Friends Forever (BFF), Soulmates

@Pelin I'm not ready to show my website yet because I need to improve on it. There is something called organic growth when it comes to startup / entrepreneurship. It means you got to be patient to see what happens next and make a baby step decision on what to do next. If you try to improve on it too quickly without observing, it won't work. I could show you this. It's what I did so far. See, I really think daily baby steps are important -- very, very small steps, rather than jumping and taking a huge leap and risk. To me, reading that book is an awesome baby step and trying to understand. This is also a baby step. It's not just taking baby steps in startups / entrepreneurship, but also in relationships and everything else. It's just like learning to ride a bike. You can't expect to ride it on the first try. It's easier to break a comfort zone when you test the waters before jumping into the pool. I hope you get what I'm saying.

"The pen is mightier than the sword." If you take a pen and an empty notebook, you may start writing whatever comes to mind. If you continue to do this, it is probably going to lead somewhere if you start to think of your favourite subject that will lead to mastery. Maybe you love: a foreign language, art, food, the piano, the guitar, kung fu, science, engineering, technology, math, etc. Then, you keep practicing it by writing it repeatedly in a notebook or where ever. It becomes a daily habit. Then, you go into flow state with it, and one day soon, you're good it. You incorporate this into your life purpose and things start to fall into place. (It doesn't always have to be a pen. It could be some other tool: a paintbrush, piano, guitar, jump rope, science lab, etc. I prefer not to stare at the computer screen too much. That's why I love the pen.)

Be selective in what you tell others. Listen carefully and then respond. Perhaps, you could just say to dress a little more formal on the holidays and then be off. Repeat, if someone asks you again. Some people are not lucky enough to see profound info and find ways of incorporating it within themselves. From what I observed as of now, the most effective way to express deeper stuff is through a life purpose. However, you also have to be very selective and tactful in how to present it. Not everyone is ready to hear it. As you go further along in your life purpose, the chances increase to meet more like-minded ppl. But, of course, you also change as you go along, so the type of ppl change.

You know, I could understand and relate because I had to deal with family members and others like this. I still do. I would just keep going. Keep going within yourself, and at the same time, build something on the outside to express it. (As I mentioned, a website.) I would highly recommend you find out more about startups to entrepreneurship and networking. That's the next level above a job/career. Find your life purpose. I recommended you this book in a previous post. The next level above that is becoming a philanthropist with your life purpose. In the networking world, the word philanthropist is commonly used. Then, you start your own non-profit. (Like, Bill Gates starting his AIDS foundation.) And finally, if you incorporate non-duality / spirituality in whatever you're doing, that's the final stages. By then, I hope your father will realize that you're trying to make a difference in the world. But, for now, I would try to be selective in what you're saying to him. He might be too overprotective with you and not be bothered to open himself up to that. It is very hard / impossible to relate to someone, even within the same family, if the other family member has not lived through what you had to go through.

@Pelin This is a tough one. I like that Eckhart Tolle quote. It makes sense. Sometimes it's impossible for some people, like parents, to change. They won't open up. Have you tried succeeding in other things? Like making a website and earning from it? Or, not even that...just make a fancy website by hiring a graphic artist. (Later, you could figure out a way to earn from it.) I'm just giving an example. It seems like the only way for him to understand is for you to take action and he takes notice of it indirectly without you telling him.