DoubleYou

Being objective, or meta, doesn't mean excluding oneself from the view. You are always at the center of it, wether you like it or not. In the same way, being anti-culture doesn't mean you are no longer part of culture. It just means you choose to be on the bitter side of it. Culture is everywhere. You can't escape it, nor do you have to. You can however be a lot more conscious of how it tends to move and how it influences you and your surroundings. The greatest artists, for example, are the ones that are able to freely manipulate all the different facets and colors of culture at will, and use it in their work. And because of this, they can eventually transcend it. And transcendence simply means understanding it, not being a slave to it. You make your own conscious choices, which can then in turn influence culture in a positive way. Culture is a work in progress, and it needs participation to grow. Neglecting it won't work, because you'd be neglecting yourself along with it.

Detaching and accepting what is, litteraly means being able to feel. When you detach from emotion, feelings can then finally be felt fully, instead of pushed away all the time. Emotion is the clinging to ones feelings, and letting go of emotion is the letting go of this clinging. Feelings will always be there. Its part of being human. The aim therefor is not to get rid of them, but to let them flow, without ever being held up. Without stagnation. Without causing emotional reactions. So, its not a celebration of weakness. Its an allowing of whatever we label as weakness to come forth, and see it as an illusion. A mere story we choose to believe in. And with that, we no longer need to push the accompanying feelings away, what would be the point? And so they can be experienced as they are. Every feeling is neutral. And emotions are the labels we give to the feelings, and with that we judge them as either good or bad. Pleasant or unpleasant, whatever. And so they seem to lose their neutrality, when in fact they never did.

What's more advanced than to just sit in silence and smile?

There's probably a part of you that feels it needs to control the breathe all the time. Even when sober. Mushrooms can show you how this is no longer serving you, by greatly enhancing the illusion and then putting a spotlight on it. So to speak. Sit with this in meditation to see where you are still holding on, and let go.

We'll see. It all really depends on the democratic candidate. But Trump couldn't even win the popular vote against Hillary, and I don't know any democrat that actually liked Hillary, lol. Then again, he's a nice representation of what a huge chunk of the US is all about. So it wouldn't be too bad to let them have another good look at themselves for four more years. That might be the only way to get people fed up with all the polarisation and childish left-right politics. Real possibility for radical systemic change should hopefully be the result of all this. Or it could all backfire even more. It's hard to say.

You can only experience the answer to this question by admitting that the one that's searching for an answer can't possibly ever know. "I don't know." That's the closest you'll get. And it's the most satisfying statement there is. It frees you up of any preconceived notions, and so now this exploration can truly begin. Not in search of any symbolic meaning, but to simply admire that which is. Deeply falling in love with the mystery. Over and over and over again. The exploration of this question never ends. And so, neither do you. You are the questioner, you are the answer. Simultaneously. Like a cat chasing its tail.

He has been impeached already.

You don't need to be gifted to simply be. It's who you are. It's who you were before you were born, and still are. There's no effort there. We all share this gift. To think you need to be gifted, or special, is to not recognise the gift that's already here. Whatever amazing states are possible, none of them compare to simply being able to sit in the silent pressence of meditation. Because that is behind all of it. That is who you are. No further questions, no need for anything else. That's it right there. It is the ground of all states. Contentment. Meditation is the essence. All other methods are just ways to strengthen that knowing. To be able to stay with the recognition.

I haven't found many teachers that embody his way of speaking. It's almost art-like. Like poetry. As if you were listening to a musical composition. The intensity of his voice starts to gradually increase during the talk, and there's always some kind of pay off, if you stick with it 'til the end. Brings me right into that zone.

When your claim is "everybody else is wrong but me", then maybe there's a possibility you are the one that's wrong.

Even when I try to meditate for 30 mins, I love it so much I don't want to stop.

When it happens naturally. Without effort.

You are Love. So to love suffering is to simply be who you are, and look at it. Nothing more. That's the thing. You think you need to do something in order to love yourself. But that doing something is what's keeping you from Being. It's what's keeping you from simply accepting what you are. Suffering is an illusion maintained by ego. So when you say you need to do something about it, to love it, you create the illusion of it being there in the first place. So trust that you are indeed Love and let it transform you by simply being yourself. That's the beautiful thing about self-love. It happens automatically, because it's always there. But only if you let it. And suffering is that which doesn't let it. So let go and trust.

Being right or wrong has nothing to do with Truth. Truth just is. And any hallucination, or not, is just a happening within Truth. And you can simply know this without having to refer to anything your mind has made up in the form of beliefs.

Great, now that's going to bother me too.

Whatever you imagined your loved ones to be, there's something there, behind their eyes, that's infinitely more beautiful than that. And if you can't see that, that's only because you can't see it in yourself yet. Because it's YOU. And that YOU, is the I that WE all share. And the realisation of this shared being is called LOVE. And that is why your loved ones are your loved ones in the first place. Because you already know. You've always known.

You have waaaaaay more freedom than any ideas of free will could ever give you. To surrender is to receive.

Those are all results of fear

Masturbation can be a beautiful thing. A spiritual tool even. And if you let it, it will arise naturally once in a while. And it can be as beautiful as sex itself. That's all. Don't make it too difficult for yourself. And don't worry about porn. That's just content, as Leo would say it. Focus on the reasons why you seem to need porn so much. What's this neediness about? Investigate. You can do nofap all you want, but it won't cure the neediness. It won't cure the source of the suffering. So investigate. And one way to do it, is to masturbate and witness that which arises without losing yourself in the mental imagery.

Thank you for sharing this. That doesn't sound healthy at all. Try to confront him with this and tell him how much it hurts you and if he doesn't want to listen it's probably time to move on. You can't waste your time being with people that make you feel less of yourself. I hope you'll find the courage to make the right choice. Just make sure to not let this linger on and on and on. That wouldn't help either of you in the long run. ??

The relief you imagine you would feel when you give up is actually pointing you towards something greater. Awakening is all about this giving up. Giving up suffering... giving up ego... giving up the ideas you have of what life is or should be... giving up all lack beliefs so that only abundance remains. But also... giving up this idea of a self that needs help. You don't have to be the one that's in charge all the time. So in other words... Give up! Give up that ego that thinks it has to follow some boring paved out self help career and start to really live in the moment. It doesn't mean you won't grow as a human being. On the contrary. It simply means you'll shift towards a more intuitive based way of living. Where you won't know the answers all the time, but that's fine. They'll be there when you need them. And you'll gain trust in that. Joy. Don't feel guilty for feeling this desire to give up. It's actually a sign that you're ready for the next step. Try to sit with that feeling completely, to really, really, let go, and then see where that takes you. Be free of it. Be yourself. Whatever that may be.

Of course it will. What do you think awakening/enlightenment is? Its this intelligence waking up in humanity itself. We too are part of earth. The more we realise that, we will become less and less (self) destructive.

Become aware that there's no such thing as "depressive, yucky feelings." All feelings are neutral. "Depressive and yucky" is how your ego has labeled them. This doesn't mean that these feelings aren't intense or overwhelming. But more and more try to open to the possibility of accepting them as is. That's where transformation happens. When a small glimpse of no-self kicks in, the only thing that's happening right now is you resisting that which arises. In this case, these so called depressive feelings. So the only way to get comfortable in no-self, is to get comfortable in silence. The more you do, the more you start to trust it, because you become conscious of the fact that there's nothing there to be feared. And in time, this will accelerate the healing. This fear arises simply because you don't know what will happen when you let go. If you knew, you wouldn't fear it. So make it your goal to find out, to learn to trust it.

Thanks for this. I never resonated with the word illusion, but this makes a lot more sense. ??

Agreed. Each and every one of us is supported and guided by Source to be exactly where we need to be. Lead by example. And people may recognise that guidance in themselves once again. If not... Eventually they will. The game is rigged.