Key Elements

Good question. When you are in the present moment, you may become aware of two things -- what to do next (authentic self) or no-self. If you are lucky enough to experience the full-fledged no-self (formlessness/nothingness), that's awesome. No-self is always present. However, when you're fully in the present moment, with very little thinking and analyzing of the past or future, with very little stories in your mind (monkey-mind) because you dropped them, you will be able to clearly do your next step. That is your authentic self. Examples - "It's time to exercise." "It's time to go to my backpack and work on my life purpose." "It's time to cook something healthy." "It's time to clean out that box in the corner." "It's time to meditate." Etc., etc., etc.

@Leo Gura Something interesting... I noticed that it's not easy to ask a question and get the proper answer, esp. when it relates to the most profound - spirituality. For example, if a person with awakenings from a non-psychedelic perspective vs a person from a psychedelic perspective start having discussions and asking questions -- both parties don't think "right" or "wrong" of each other or "good" or "bad." However, when asking a question, they may think that projections are being made. The question may need to be rephrased. Maybe, perhaps, the best thing to do is just arrive at your own conclusions. Or, find the "right" person to talk to one-on-one and share experiences.

Yes, but you got to get creative. Let's say, for example, you make fortune cookies for a living. Inside the fortune cookies, you may put a profound quote or saying like this, "Observe, the present moment: you feel busy & just moved into your new home. You see 10 boxes to unpack in front of you. Thoughts are pouring down on you like rain. Now, let go of all your thoughts. Rid your ego for a moment of unwanted thoughts and emotions. Breath deeply a few times, and unpack one of the boxes. That's all. Relax. One step at a time." Something like this. If you are working on Kindle, think for a moment, how are you going to approach this?

I've been wanting to say this for quite some time now but didn't know how. I would like to comment on the 10 Ox Herding Pics. The 10 Ox Herding Pics is a great guide/map, but as you know, "the map is not the territory." Here is the story told by Shinzen Young: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 *I don't want to forget to include the traps that Shinzen Young mentioned: Traps At the end of the story in part 3, there is this person, and people call him The Cloth Bag Monk. I wonder what could be in the bag? For me, I thought, maybe he carefully planned the gifts, like for example, have fortune cookies wrapped up with something else, like maybe chocolates, to pass out to children and others. In the fortune cookies, there would be some profound quote or saying to teach people something. The Cloth Bag Monk spends his day socializing with children and others - teaching them wisdom in indirect ways. Nowadays, it's not so easy to do this everyday. We have our jobs to go to. Maybe there has to be an alternative way to do this. Like do this in the evenings. To teach wisdom in indirect ways and become a pointer, we think about how to set up our lifestyle so that our time is available for others. If we seriously pursue this, we will probably find out about passive income - making a website, YouTube channel, etc. etc. so that we earn in an alternative way. More info on passive income: Info 1 Info 2 We do look for other alternative lifestyles. Other examples: Info 3 Info 4 However, as we age, or have families, or whatever the reason may be, we still may pursue passive income since we need to watch our health or if going to the hospital is required for emergencies. And also, we live along with nature without destroying it - in great communities with great health care for all. All in all, when we do this, when we align our life purpose + health + startup + nature + spirituality + etc., we have to try not to be obsessed with anything, esp. money and things like that. Then, things will start to fall into place. It will be more automatic, flowing, meditative, and natural as we get better at it. In summary, the Cloth Bag Monk = Leo's recent video: The Topic of Mindfuckery Also, in the end of part 3 of the 10 Ox Herding Pics, the emperor got shocked/surprised (mindfucked), when he was told that The Cloth Bag Monk was the most enlightened person in his kingdom. "Enlightenment is also the realization of knowing how much you don't know." -Ralph Smart

Heaven phenomenon, hell phenomenon, and no-self jokes...

This is a tough one. I would say try to get her to let go and be interested in life again by slowly getting her to be in touch with her interests. Help her explore her interests. I hope she's not around the abuse anymore.

Nice first post and great questions too... I would start with my passions - question myself what I really love to do. What are my interests? Write it down, perhaps in a journal. Explore that and turn it into a career / life purpose. You are in the university now. Try matching the major with your interests / career. Have a career. It'll help you become independent and great learning experience. The next step I would take is to really understand what is my life purpose. How would I get my life purpose like this: Life purpose = startup = passive income? Learn more about what is a startup and what is passive income. Here's the book I recommend: Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki. There is a triangle diagram that looks like this in the book: This is a great puzzle diagram that has helped me get my life purpose. Of course, this diagram would have to be paired off with the Spiral Dynamics diagram starting at stage orange. Leo made a clip on Spiral Dynamics. Of course, Leo has a life purpose course. All at the same time on a daily basis, keep self-inquiry, meditation, and contemplate on what is truth. What does it mean when everything is one?

Yes, I agree on this point. There was a point in my life where I learned that life is a school. Life is the "biggest" teacher, and we all know that in school, there is structure and healthy boundaries. Without figuring out our healthy boundaries in life, we would not get the most out of life. We could become reckless, and in the end it could feel humiliating. However, too much structure and boundaries will lead to stress and frustration, and therefore, getting in touch with the "inner child" within could reveal more wisdom.

@Waifu Yandere ok. I get what you're saying. Question for you: what exactly is it that you're looking for? For example, everyone talks about seeing the no-self, where everything is one, and it's all you. If you are looking for this, that's fine. However, you may want to be in a more peaceful time in your life or a more peaceful state of mind - like maybe perhaps being more settled and stable. In this case, using your imagination will help in life purpose / career etc. Imagination does help. Yes. Imagination comes from thoughts in the mind. You could get ideas from it, or allow it to pass by / flow by like a train and meditate. It's your choice. You have to decide that. You have to decide where you're at.

@Waifu Yandere Imagination is a tool, like art, for example. If you could find a way to incorporate it in your life purpose, career, work, etc., because it comes automatic and natural, that would be great - no stress/less stress and freedom. Did you notice our thoughts are automatic - coming from "nothingness." This could be used to our advantage. The answers are there. I think that's why they call it, "answered prayers."

@Brimstone So awesome! What an amazing speech by him! Reminds me of my childhood right after I graduated from the 5th grade. It was during the summer vacation when I was at my cousin's house in KY. Nature is beautiful there. I was running through the bluegrass freely, doing arts and crafts, and writing a lot. I discovered what I was good at there because I let myself go free and did stuff naturally. No one was telling me what I can or cannot do. A special type of big insect was chirping in the trees that had a special type of rhythm to it. It sounded like a sprinkler system with rhythm. I could've danced to that rhythm and no one would judge cause I was still a child. We are free. We just have to think back to a time in our lives when we did things freely and apply them to our lives now - without thinking about the deadlines or how much money we'll get - without any hard and fast rules. Then, things will fall into place.

Have you ever thought of it this way? I'm free...

I overheard an interesting conversation today between two people. I'll call the two people teacher and student. It went like this: Student: I saw something on YouTube today. A dictator of country X increased the number of concentration camps for his people. One of his soldier decided to gather a group of around 100 soldiers to defeat the dictator by stabbing him in the stomach to kill him while the other soldiers backed him up. The lead soldier did not succeed but escaped into another country and was telling his experience on YouTube. He was like a Samurai. Teacher: No wrong! That soldier is NOT a Samurai. Do you even know what is a Samurai? When a Samurai goes on a mission like that, he either completes the mission successfully or he dies trying fearlessly. Anything other than this is disgraceful and he would not be considered a Samurai. He doesn't let his ego get in the way by escaping to some other country, live to tell the tale, and earn money through YouTube. If he doesn't succeed, he sacrifices his life. More on Samurai

@Brimstone I get what you're saying. The simplest solution to dealing with all these cases is simply let the thoughts go by (all the emotions/ego) and just be. Just be in the moment and continue with daily life. Continue with work/life purpose/other stuff in being without being disturbed by ego. It's not perfect but try your best.

This is a great topic. When it comes to ego, sometimes it's hard to put the main idea into the right context. Where do we draw the line between misinterpretations, misunderstandings, and ego? It's not so easy to draw the line for yourself and others.

Yes, true. Some people are emotionally triggered, and it's obvious. I'm just trying to say that sometimes it's not very obvious. It's subtle and not as easy to recognize. I think this is what I'm trying to say. Here, I'll give examples. I do notice something among people in real life, and sometimes because of this we're not as opened up to conversations/communications as we ought to be on the forum or elsewhere. Could the ego play a role in this? Probably. Here's a simple example. Two guys are good friends. They share lots of things together without hesitation. The first guy visits the second guy's home and meets his wife. The first guy thinks that the second guy's wife is overweight. So, he just points it out to her, not knowing that it made her feel uncomfortable. On the second visit, he points it out to her again. This time he notices that she's not saying hello or talking to him. When he points it out the third time, she started confronting him saying that she already knows she's overweight and it's hard to keep it off and to change the topic. However, he brings it up again and again in the future. Could this be ego? One could say it's subtle ego. Sometimes different life experiences triggers ego is what I'm saying - in subtle ways. And, we pick sides and it's not so obvious. So, instead of thinking that something deeper is going on, we just pass it off as laziness to keep off weight or some other negative thing. Ok,, here's another one. An old man from Germany decides to get his son an arranged marriage to a gal from India. The son agrees. But, the son's friend thinks that it is strange and keeps bringing up the topic in negative ways. Instead of actually travelling and finding out what arranged marriages is about from all different angles, the friend just keeps assuming and criticizing. I'm only saying that the ego is subtle. Sometimes being emotionally triggered is not that obvious.

No I'm not. The message is for everyone. Sorry if I didn't say it quite right. See, this is what I mean.

Ok, I will give examples of what I mean for futher clarification. 1. Let's say that someone just graduated from the university as an engineer and tries to look for a job. He has a hard time because the job market lists engineering jobs with the requirement of 5+ yrs of experience. A person who has just graduated with an engineering degree has a different perspective than someone who has 5+ yrs of experience in engineering and who has helped in the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Unless, the newbie gets more experience in the same field, he will not be able to communicate with someone who has many years of experience in the same field. Let's take this deeper. Most people can relate to the above example. The same concept could be applied to more profound things. 2. One person has just started dating. Another person has been married for over 10+ yrs with children. The one who has just started dating may not even be able to relate to the one who has been married for years. They may have different core values when it comes to commitment. If they have a discussion about how to have a successful marriage, it's quite possible for misunderstandings and misinterpretations. 3. It's very unlikely that a person who has travelled and lived in India for years and eventually became citizen there will be able to communicate that experience with someone who likes to stay in his own backyard. 4. It's almost impossible to relate to someone with an awakening or awakenings if the other person has no experience of awakenings. This is what I mean by misunderstandings and misinterpretations in communication.

Maybe it's not just one-upping. Maybe is also misunderstandings and misinterpretation. Different people have different life experiences and words and experiences are limited.