Mondsee

@Michael569 Thank you for your biology class refresher! It was good hearing about the chemical process inside our bodies again! This is what I was looking for. A little before you posted it I came up to the same idea, I realized it is not that vigorous physical movement is painful, but that our bodies are not used to that level of intensity. Thanks guys!

@egoeimai Well, yes, but objectively seen, it does hinder you from doing certain things flawless because of the pain... like going up or down the stairs very quickly. It's like a minor injury...

@Vercingetorix 1) Thank you for reminding me about that. 2) Next time I will focus in describing what exactly is happening in my body!

@PetarKa nope, it's on the youtube channel I haven't taken the course. Although probably he repeats his story in the course.

@Leo Gura I, whoever that is, will do my best. Thanks!

Sooooooooo... I just started doing self observation, its been only 3 times, but anyways! I'm already kind of frustrated and the reason is that I always come to an answer that gets me stuck. When I ask myself "what am I?" I answer to myself "I am the voice". The problem is that as soon as I arrive to that idea it is not that I believe I am the voice. Instead "the voice" identifies as an entity within the body that, I'll say... thinks for itself, then it is able to "make sense" out of all questions and answer them in terms of "being the voice that is part of the body". So "the voice" is speaking for itself and it actually can answer everything. I think this is leading me no where. To give you an example of how it goes, I'll take some of the questions Leo suggests. So, do you get how it goes? Sure there are more questions, some of which I haven't focused on, but as soon as that discourse is lead by the f*cking voice convinced of being simply the voice, I can't get any further. It answers itself, feels satisfied with the answer, and doesn't look any further!!! I also know I'm just starting, but really, the three times it has been the same, the voice saying it didn't claim to be more than just that, and making sense out of everything from its perspective. This is not amusing in any way.

So, a couple of weeks ago I decided after my daily practice of yoga I would add up 30min of meditation. Its going ok, I guess... hard to tell since I've been doing the "do nothing" technique. Anyways, yesterday I happened to be in a room where there was a mirror, and I happened to be seated in front of it, so that I could see myself (I keep my eyes open). It was a little weird, for moments I kind of started seeing my reflection as any other object in the room, and not as "me". That was never a permanent state tough, just for some moments. What do you think about the mirror thing? Do you think it could be helpful for... something? Do you think it'd be better to avoid it? Or do you think this doesn't matter at all? Happy to hear opinions from more experienced ones out there!

Hmm... Look, if "the voice" i.e. "the mind", start focusing on that, they will find some explanation to themselves. They're freaking professionals at that. For example, "ok, I'll focus on what is occurring in direct experience right now: I see and feel myself sitting on a chair in front of my desk, which I also see and feel. I hear my fingers typing on the keyboard, and I also see them, and I feel them. This all is not a belief, this is very, very clearly within my awareness. This is what is." (Voice/mind speaking:) "I think that I exist, yes I do. Where am I? Well... I am sitting on my chair in front of my desk, not here somewhere, here sitting in front of my desk, and it is not a belief, I just proved it through the senses of this body. Me, the voice is only the speaking part of the body, but I am not the entire self. This self is the body+mind+voice. This self, this human being is all of it in its entirety, including me, the voice. It is not that what this self is is simply the thinker of the thoughts (mind+voice). This self is the thinker of the thoughts + the body + the senses." Now, it could seem that I'm far, far away from any kind of profound realization, and I might very well be, but the thing is that I... the actual me, I do not identify with this discourse. I see it as the voice, who is the voice and not me, talking for the mind, who is the mind and not me. Maybe it is that bold italic "I" that I should start finding explanations for... So, no! I don't believe I'm the thinker of thoughts!!! That is the f*cking voice/mind not letting me see deeper... Edit: P.S. I think it actually helped...

Haha @Leo Gura! I thought you were working towards vegetarianism! No, really jokes aside, listen... the thing is, the entire dialogue of self observation is something I don't quite identify with what I actually am. It feels as the voice talking to itself in another dimension and thats it, and in that dimension it is able to find explanations to everything. So when I ask "what am I" and I answer "I'm the voice" it is not in the sense of "I, me, myself is a voice" no, it is in the sense of "I, the one who is answering this question is the voice". I hope that is clear in some way. Anyways, today I came to a new dead end and I can't get out of it. Long story short, now my mind is absolutely positive (maybe even more than before) that it exists because it has experienced itself. If you are interested in how the dialogue went, here it is: I couldn't go further than that. From that point on, and it must have been good 10 min, my mind went on saying as long as it can prove to itself that it exists through senses, as it does right now, it'll be super positive that it exists. Help.

I might try this out, I have nothing to loose, I guess... Thanks for the suggestion. Hmm... too late maybe... I already asked what is aware of the voice, and the voice quickly came with a ridiculously logical answer... really I'm amazed at the amount of explanations it can find to itself. To that question it said: "The senses of this body are aware of the voice", then I followed up with, "oh yeah? is that so? so please tell me exactly which sense is now perceiving you, since you are not talking out loud..." and it said "I have the ability to talk out loud or quietly. When I talk quietly, then the mind is the one who listens". I wonder if after coming up with that creative explanation it'll be able to stay silent when I ask that. But I'll try.

@Toby @eskwire @Prabhaker @LifeandDeath Thank you guys for your definitions. Be sure I'll come back to them when I'm a little more advance, and see if it all seems clearer.

So was it your first time meditating in front of a mirror, or the first time it felt that way when doing so? It's nice how you say you "played" with different techniques Keep enjoying your work and thanks for sharing your experience!

No @Leo Gura... not sure if you quite understood. For example, the first question, I actually asked that, or the voice did, or whatever... and you know what it answered to itself? It said "It's like when you run. When the body doesn't run, is it that running doesn't exist? It is simply that the body isn't running, it isn't doing that. Same applies for me, when I'm silent, the body is simply not performing speaking." Now, moving on to the second question, that I did not ask myself, but "the voice" would answer: "What a stupid question, of course voices don't see, voices speak. The eyes, another part of the body is what is seeing, not me." (Same would apply for ears hearing). And this voice actually speaks a couple languages, sometimes it speaks to itself in different ones... Haha and about the last question: Its this extra entity chatting to itself! I (wait let me stress that...) IIII don't think I'm the voice, I wouldn't be afraid of the voice dying... not only about that at least, but the voice takes over me as "the voice only" to answer everything for itself!! Get it now? This is what is hindering me to look deeper...

I guess I'll have to prove that right or wrong using the empirical method... But thanks!

@Prabhaker This seems quite cool! Have you had that experience? Do you regularly practice this kind of meditation? @Dodoster Did you try it for the first time? Definitely interested in your future experiences if you decide to practice it again! For me it won't be that easy to do this as regularly since the room where the mirror was so appropriately placed wasn't mine, and I'm not planning on placing one in my room either, but we'll see!

@Leo Gura All right, thanks!

Do you still practice reviewing a Mission Statement every day? If no, why?

This might be a debatable point. You are suggesting thoughts come after emotions to explain them to the mind, like this: EMOTION --> THOUGHT I'm not quite sure that emotions are primary. If emotions are primary, then where do they come from? where and why do they originate? I see the source of emotions in thought: THOUGHT --> EMOTION What I think that can be primary, is instinct (not to be confused with emotion) so there is an external situation (rather than thought) and an instinctive reaction follows: EXTERNAL SITUATION --> INSTINCTIVE REACTION Translated into this example you are suggesting that: YOU DO SOMETHING --> AN EMOTION ARISES --> YOU EXPLAIN IT TO YOURSELF WITH THOUGHTS You do something --> Happiness arises --> You think that was a good thing, and explain to yourself that's the reason you feel happy You do something --> Sadness arises --> You think that was a bad thing, and explain to yourself that's the reason you feel sad Translated into this example I am suggesting that: YOU DO SOMETHING --> YOU EXPLAIN IT TO YOURSELF WITH THOUGHTS --> AN EMOTION ARISES You do something --> You think that was a good thing --> Happiness arises You do something --> You think that was a bad thing --> Sadness arises Lastly you suggest this: YOU DO SOMETHING --> AN EMOTION ARISES AND YOU IGNORE IT --> YOU UNCONSCIOUSLY EXPLAIN IT TO YOURSELF WITH THOUGHTS Which is equivalent to: YOU DO SOMETHING --> AN EMOTION ARISES AND YOU ACKNOWLEDGE IT --> YOU CONSCIOUSLY UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE OF THOUGHTS To this last model I believe that: YOU DO SOMETHING --> A THOUGHT ARISES AND YOU IGNORE IT --> AN EMOTION UNCONSCIOUSLY ARISES Which is equivalent to: YOU DO SOMETHING --> A THOUGHT ARISES AND YOU ACKNOWLEDGE IT --> YOU CONSCIOUSLY UNDERSTAND THE SOURCE OF EMOTIONS So maybe this is all a rethorical misunderstanding and you’re trying to recommend that I listen to my INSTINCTIVE REACTION. Is that the case?

Soooo... I'll start by saying that i was kind of ashamed of asking this publicly, but since I haven't gotten the question out of my head for days, here I go: I don't really know how to explain this without telling a little about how I experienced love in my life, so bare with me please. I always think back to my early teenage years with a smile on my face, specially when I remember when I started liking this one guy, and then I discovered he liked me back. We started dating for... quite a long time actually, and it was so nice just being with him, and talking about all sorts of stuff together and during that period, we wouldn't even touch each other, like... not at all, maybe just a little hug to say hi. One day he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, for me there was no answer other than yes, and only then did we kiss for the first time. If being just around him was for me the best thing in the world, when we kissed I was sure there was nothing better in life. It all slowly developed and I had time to cherish every single new experience as the best thing in life, even holding hands was something extremely special and I would think about it for hours. At some point, the kisses were no longer only in the mouth haha and I thought it was amazing how every time there was really something even better out there to discover. Sad ending: we finished school, moved to different countries and after the first semester we broke up. That is a different story, but what is relevant here is that we never reached the point of having sex. Ever since then, I've had a couple opportunities of having sex (specifically coitus) both in a serious relationships as well as in rather casual encounters, but I've never wanted to because I believe in waiting for the right person and time to make the best out of it, just the way I did with all other things that come before sex. I remember feeling a little pity for my high school girlfriends that had jumped from not even having a boyfriend to having sex and missing out and enjoying all other things around that. I thought for them, holding hands with someone would never be as special as it once was for me, because they already knew it all. I thought of it as reading the last chapter of a book before even starting it. I might be wrong, but that is what I believed. Now you might be wandering what this all has to do with enlightenment. Well currently, I'm single, in fact, I'm single since not so long ago, and coincidently, this was the time when I started learning about enlightenment (coincidently because I started watching Leo's videos in chronological order about one and a half years ago), and I thought, well, let's assume the highly unlikely scenario of me doing all the hard work to become enlightened, and me actually getting enlightened before I ever had sex. Wouldn't it be then like skipping a middle step? I imagine sex at its best might be like... ok, maybe not the best, but one of the best experiences of the (unaware, i.e. unenlightened) human being. So if you have good sex and are not enlightened, then you might experience first as the best thing ever, and then... there is still enlightenment waiting out for you, to show you you were wrong! There was something even better! But if you get enlightened and then have sex, then I agree, sex might then be even better, but you'll never had experienced the one step before that, the "unenlightened amazing sex". Please understand this is how the question came to be, and I know that will very likely not be my case, but I'm still interested in what you think about this. Should we seek enlightenment after enjoying the entire potential of non-enlightenment life, or just seek enlightenment right away because who wants to waist time living a limited life? Don't you see it as spoiling to yourself that all what you already knew as good, can be extremely better? Thank you for reading up until this point! I hope it wasn't so boring!

@Sharpadox have you watched Leo's early videos? I can't recall exactly in which one it is, but there is one, (I believe the topic is life purpose, or at least is very closely related to that) where he shares his story finding the career path he wanted to follow. I'm not saying he did "the right thing" nor am I suggesting that you copy what he did, but since he started as a game designer and actually succeeded at it before he founded actualized.org, you might feel identified and it might give you a little perspective I'd recommend to you to look for it, maybe someone here can remember better and help you find it!

@SLICKHAWK Thank you for the idea! I usually keep my goals in to-do lists and don't focus on a single one, which might be indeed very helpful. Here I was looking for opinions on a slight different matter tough, but apparently not many people familiar with Mission Statements have come across this post. The idea is, you write a document with some characteristics and goals of yourself, among others, very general and permanent ones, that are supposed to apply during your entire life. Those big ideals and motivations you have that will probably never change. Also some feelings that you want to feel and what your strengths are, etc. That document you review and slightly edit every single day, preferably as part of your morning routine, that way you'll be in line with all that during your day. I wanted to hear from someone if reviewing a Mission Statement every day been helpful in their daily lives. In any case I take away your focus-on-one goal idea

Hey! does someone here has a Mission Statement? Do you use it regularly? Has it helped you? Do you recommend it? Any tips are welcome!

Hey @Nahm thank you for your answer! I'm specifically referring to a document where you write down several aspects and aims of yourself and review it every day. Leo has a video where he explains the concept and shares his mission statement back then. I did one long ago, but then forgot to review it every day. As I am considering to update it and start reviewing it I'd like to hear experiences from others. Did it help you? didn't it? which format did you use? etc.

I've tried many things, I've committed many times, and I haven't managed to make it a permanent habit. Not looking for a magic pill, but maybe some strategies that have helped you or others. Thank you!

True, I was educated in a traditional culture where everyone deny sex before marriage although everyone does have sex before marriage. The church is still a very very central institution over here, so I do believe all that nonsense might have had an impact on me, and much more back then when I was a girl that wanted to do things "right", whatever that might have meant. But all that story I'm just telling to let you know how I came up with that idea. And the plane idea simply is that if someone never has had sex, becomes enlightened and then has sex for the first time, he or she won't be able to compare it to sex before enlightenment. I agree with this but... ...listening to my emotions, is listening to my thoughts, just in an unconscious way. In the end, emotions are the product of our thoughts! Therefore, Thoughts lie, and emotions follow them. But yes, I also agree many questions can find its true answer by practicing introspection.