UnbornTao

Why do you think metaphysical belief is needed? Nihilism is yet another strategy to boost one's ego. It's a way to justify one's own laziness and to think of oneself as more special than others. Belief is irrelevant and even antithetical when it comes to making discoveries. It is easy to fall into as it can give us a sense of certainty and security, which is fine as long as they're recognized as what they are. In the end, you don't need to believe in eggs in order to make an omelette. Or some such analogy. You may already hold a bunch of beliefs that are unnecessary; eliminating them increases one's curiosity and capacity to learn. Less belief also means more powerful contemplation! If a belief can influence our experience so much, imagine what it'd be like to experience something directly. You only need to be honest about your experience.

Depends on what you mean by awaken. It always begins with you getting clear on what something is. If not, how could you possibly help another? It'd be like the blind leading the blind. Part of the difficulty lies in how easy it is to deceive oneself about one's level of understanding.

Coconut water, apparently. Also eggs -- incredibly nutrtious, and potatoes. Presumably, some individuals on certain cultures survived for many years on a potato-only diet. I might have read this on The 150 Healthiest Foods or on a video by Michael Greger.

Nahh. Of course. Just pointing out something I noticed.

Where is "gender"? A lot of "gender" is found in the conceptual domain. In any case, I have yet to investigate this matter.

I suspected you were going to be the first one to respond. I've noticed you admire his work. In the moment, he likely got hurt -- ouch! -- and wanted to run away from the situation. His explanation for having acted childishly may be misleading; I think that it is mostly a clever rationalization. Like a kid who tries to justify to his mother why he didn't make his bed, making his case with smart and convincing arguments. Not saying he's a childish individual btw. This game is amusing to me, nothing serious.

I get the sense that we might be confusing what sex and gender are. Sex is biological and pretty much set in stone, gender is mostly a cultural invention with some grounding on physiology. People want to get free of traditional gender stereotypes -- what it means to be a "man" and a "woman". Male and female are distinctions that refer to sex as a biological fact Man and woman may refer to the more flexible, socially-constructed reality of gender Why are sport competitions separated by sexes in the first place? This is part of my sloppy and naive take on this topic for now.

So each of us interested should be contemplating what time is. Great! Go do that.

Haha, he's rationalising his emotional reaction. He could have said "I reacted like a child", and that would be it. I guess there are other social interests at hand such as reputation and the like, so apologising is appropriate. I just find it funny.

Gazpacho. Dates and blueberries.

Finding Yourself Contemplation Get at the most real and present sense of yourself that you can right now. Find you. What comes to mind? Do this now. Notice that everything that arose came to you. Everything is received by you but are you a perception? Is you perceived? Who is perceiving what came to mind as a result of the above exercise?

Hurting others is rarely done for their own benefit; it is an attempt at personal anger relief, perhaps. Helping them is a different matter. You should be clear on your motivation for acting that way. Be honest. Why do you actually want to hurt others? Don't you think there's a more effective approach? How would you feel and react if treated the way you profess? You may be angry or resentful, and are perhaps looking for a pretext to let your impulses loose.

Goes to show they're dealing with beliefs and assumptions and defending them.

Okey-doke! Seriously, no.

Oh, this is pertinent to the discussion:

To be clear, this behaviour is common to humans because believing is easy. It applies to humans no matter the field but you're right that "spiritual" or religious communities -- not saying this is one -- are specially guilty of this, as the purpose of most of them is precisely that, believing.

What is thinking for oneself? How to think critically? Inspired by Pyrrhonism.

A look into pain as it is such a foundational experience.

Go ahead, if you want. As long as it doesn't go against the guidelines and is respectful, sharing a perspective won't get you banned. About the hate part, people will respond however they do. No guarantee all of it will be praise.

Please, keep your posts clean and concise if you can.

Not many. If we're talking profoundly enlightened, a handful.

Rupert Spira and Adyashanti are a couple of the best, they hold satsangs -- meetings, check them out. I've heard Adi Da's transmissions were insane and intense, he was deeply enlightened according to Wilber. He isn't alive but you can check out his videos on YT.

That's a feature.