UnbornTao

"aye aye captain!"

Sounds good, thanks. Assumption could be left for another time, though. In any case, the nature of context is still up for grabs.

The "stressors" may stimulate certain knee-jerk responses in you, yet the stress itself isn't found in them. By labeling them that way, you may be reinforcing the notion that your emotional state is externally imposed. Do other people feel differently under similar circumstances? If so, this suggests that the circumstances themselves aren't the deciding factor, but rather how one relates to them. It's a bit like professional soccer players - how come they're not disturbed by thousands of people shouting and insulting them? They focus on the game. They've trained their minds to stay grounded and focused on what matters: what's happening on the pitch, their own bodies, the ball, other players, and so on. You can also change your environment - or take actions to positively influence your state within it. This might mean learning to focus on what you're doing, going for a run, avoiding caffeinated drinks, meditating, and so forth.

Satsangs on Thursdays.

Great, keep working on it. Chances are, the recognition is just intellectual. This is a necessary first step but you have yet to become aware of it as a reality operating in your experience right now. Actually grasping that fact would instantly release you from the unnecessary suffering you're creating and enduring, at least in that domain. Rarely do we experience a state of true emotional or feeling neutrality. You may simply be insensitive to - or not paying enough attention to - your experience, or you might be feeling apathy, despair, or something of that sort. Very subtle feelings are always in the background, even when they're hard to name. Consider that positive and negative arise together. Get clear/er about what you experience. Refer to my post above. Even if there's an objective underlying physical condition, you can still use your mind in a way that helps you feel freer and lighter. You'd be surprised how much lightening up a bit, grounding yourself in the body, and taking yourself less seriously can go a long way toward creating a functional, healthy experience of life in the present.

It might be true that self is fundamentally already non-existing for everyone. How come I'm not suffering from that? If that's the case then what is it that you've been suffering as "partially being dissolved"? Consider: if no physiological malfunction is going on, where do you find your dilemma? It's possible it's just a story you're believing and suffering from. It's fucking conceptual! Stop feeding it. Be free from the story. Heal!

An interesting practice is to temporarily see one's parents as persons rather than as "mother" or "father." It takes some work and provides a different perspective.

I think you stubbornly cling to that story of self-dissolution. What happens when you stop believing in it? Set aside all the spiritual stuff you've heard about self this and self that. Also, "the future" is being conceptualized by you now, is it not? So there's no reason why you couldn't imagine a positive, hopeful one - or simply live in the present. Barring some physiological malfunction perhaps, depression can't possibility exist in relation to what's present now. So you see, just as you generate negative thoughts and feeling states, you can produce healthy and enjoyable ones.

Actually, it is easier done than said. What's needed is just learning to recognize that you are resisting your present experience, and to allow yourself to experience whatever you're going through - stress and anxiety in this case. Let them be there. From there you can become aware of what they are and how you are doing them. Getting out of one's mind is freeing and relaxing usually. It is a more present, objective, real experience. Good luck!

Start by embracing the present moment exactly as it is - do this. And stop imagining a future where something bad or unwanted might happen. Be grounded in your body, breathe from the center - this should help, too.

It's all about context:

Haha, what made you ask such a question in the first place? What makes you live happily and joyfully now?

Hope she/he is doing okay.

Wouldn't 'system' be a more accurate term for that? We could also stay grounded, since it's tempting (and easy) to extrapolate. In any case, if we agree that what you said above might be better described as a system, with the mind as its context, what exactly are you saying when you claim that the mind is a context? The space where thoughts occur? Is that how you see context? Or perhaps as the possibility for the existence of thought (since we're using 'mind' as an example of context here.)

Got it. And what does it mean that it is a context? You said words and context arise and disappear in the mind.