SOUL

The all or nothing perspective is a dualistic mindset and the ego will even embrace the notion it has no free will as long as it gets what it desires, attachment and identity that comes from a perspective of separation which dualism is this. The ego cannot help but be dualistic since that is its very nature and it is an autonomous facet of our psyche but in awareness we don't have to perceive in this separated way. We can transcend it and are not just limited to what the ego creates as identity.

What makes you think that 'transcending the ego' means getting rid of it? It simply means having an awareness of and a perspective of our being that is more than just what the ego presents. This is a common misunderstanding and the negative opinion about the ego is a popular one so just celebrate that you have finally transcended the misunderstanding about transcending the ego. The ego may be clinging to certain things in the form of memories, ideas, emotional responses and self perceptions it identifies with that can serve you well to get rid of or change and the clinging itself may be a stumbling block to well being. Ultimately, becoming aware of and transcending this misunderstanding is helpful, be encouraged that you have.

Yes, do appreciate every step along the path. Although, if we allow any one step along the way to capture too much attention it can stagnate the journey. The ego desires identity so it will create elaborate reasoning and complex interconnected webs of trust in its identity that rely on each other to form this basis of identity. It can become a stumbling block in the path, this isn't a dysfunction but it can be quite a strong hindrance to our work. This is why remaining vigilant in not allowing any of the conceptualizations to be a whirlpool we get caught up with is crucial in continuing the progress. Every step has it's own vantage point but even as the perspective may appear similar from one point to the next it's ever changing as we continue along the path. To use this analogy further to describe it, if we are hiking a mountain the view from the valley floor where we start is clear and the peak where we are going is unclear. Each small rise along the way the valley grows less clear and the peak more clear but each vantage point only differs slightly from the next. Then we get to the top and the peak is clear and the valley is unclear. Keeping awareness in a 'fresh eyes' disposition will keep us open to new revelation. It's not a black and white case of right and wrong but each step along the path has its own insights, what helped previously may hold back eventually. The ego's survival mode often clings tightly to yesterday's insight so can be resistant to new insight. Being aware of how the ego will build temples around insights is valuable in keeping on the path because we don't really want to spend time worshiping in them or even building a religion of identity around them. Since there are always a new one awaiting us and ultimately we will abandon each one as the absolute is all of them but also none of them. The ego doesn't like this but through its functioning we can train it to embrace it.

@Razard86 Beautiful step on the path.

A child's first steps are not dysfunctional, they function exactly as they do...they are the first steps and may not resemble the steps in the middle of the walk in life but can often resemble the last steps of the walk in life. Which is an interesting topic for another time. This doesn't make them dysfunctional, just part of the journey. It seems you have mistakenly perceived that the steps along a developmental process are a 'dysfunction' because they are not in a form that you apparently think is the only functional one. Although, I wouldn't call this mistaken perception you have as dysfunctional, it's just the first steps in a walk of perceptual life. Not only do I understand what you are saying, I understand what you eventually will be saying if you continue along the walk of perceptual life. That is, unless you set up your soap box at this particular unfinished point and preach it as the 'truth' without progressing any further. You behave very much like your spiritual guru does on their own forum, every new revelation is the absolute truth and nothing is higher. That is, until there is another 'awakening' and then that is the absolute truth and nothing higher. When will this pattern be recognized for what it is? These are all steps in a journey that can actually be transcended to see the whole path if someone isn't attached to any one particular step along the way.

Right from the first sentence there is a mistaken perception, the ego isn't dysfunctional, it functions exactly as it does. What may be dysfunctional is the concepts, ideas, emotional responses and self perceptions it employs as it does what it does. The very manner it functions in can be used to remedy the dysfunction of the content it employs so that we can heal in a holistic way.

I chuckle quite a bit at the stuff I read on this forum because I don't take the back and forth chattering all that seriously and I don't take it personally. It's just people doing people things, the ego is a sneaky facet of our psychology and it exerts influence on our perceptions and behaviors in ways that are often difficult to suss out. I began my journey decades ago, before there was even an internet so I spent alot of time face to face with people on a spiritual journey in quite an array of communities. I learned that people could adopt a 'glowy' disposition and have all the spiritual jargon and rhetoric on their lips but still not have an authentic experience of what they are portraying. Online now someone doesn't even have to have that 'glowy' disposition, they can just line up the words in text that fits the discourse and seem like they are something but behind the keyboard in their own inner life they aren't. So when you say you know someone is or isn't, insert your favorite bull crap spiritual term, you are just imagining you do. You really don't know it. It's helpful to realize that our perceptions of others may not be accurate, we don't know what's going on with their inner life and to believe we do is only in our mind. We can get some insight through the words they use but again, online people can write words that may not reflect what really is. Speaking of words, especially spiritual ones like 'enlightened', are abused to the point they may not be useful anymore. I know from direct experience that there are a few different facets of inner work and that don't necessarily correlate with each other. How these different words apply to those different facets is a vague and subjective thing. So, saying that someone is or isn't something using one of these spiritual terms, especially online, is more about projection of one's own contextual understanding and through the veil of subjective perception. You just don't know, making claims about others with regard to the state of their inner work is a fruitless endeavor other than food for ego. You don't need to apologize for anything and after further contemplation it actually seems like it can be helpful going through this rhetorical dance as I called it. There can be benefit to others reading our exchanges in learning that saying others are or aren't one of these spiritual terms is useless except to ego. That exercise may have value. It's great to see Leo chimed in to clarify his intent for the apology...of course, words said on the internet don't necessarily portray reality accurately. Haha

To be fair, as we grow in awareness we can become aware of the effects of our behaviors and words have on others, we can actually experience a first hand like experience of it and have an intimate knowledge of those effects in ways that we previously didn't have. So we don't necessarily need to project any emotion onto this, it can be something that is recognized as a sort of performative act to signal to others our intent to reconcile many different types of things as well as this simple act can make an impact on others and allow healing to happen. You declaring why he 'solely' did it may or may not be as you suggest, only Leo can answer that. Also, I'm not sure where you get the notion that you have any authority to determine what is or is not being awakened and who is or is not awakened. This isn't the first time you've said this to me and I suspect I'm not the only one you have said it to. It may have your desired effect on others who you say it to but I see through this ploy and has little to no effect other than for me to chuckle at your own arrogant hubris. I hope we don't have to go through this rhetorical dance again.

Do you mean he doesn't have to apologize or that he doesn't require an apology? I didn't say he should do either, though, did you think I did?

I will take your sentiments into consideration but I don't require an apology for your personal attacks towards me on this forum, this reply included.

Transcending the human perspective to awaken to a universal perspective doesn't mean that one should just dismiss human social interactions altogether. An apology is a way for someone to reach out to others to let them know they are aware the dynamics between them have been strained in some way and taking responsibility for the part one may have played in it. Although the apology isn't the end of the situation, it's more like the beginning and in fact, without resolving the issue that caused the straining and behaving in a way that remediates it then the apology wasn't much more than a token gesture and is not a genuine acknowledgment. So time will tell what this really is, the present moment will continue to reveal its actual nature.

I've spent alot of time camping out in the wilderness and in NM I spent alot of time near some hot springs. We used to sit in the springs at night and watch the light show as we called it. These mysterious lights zipping across the sky, even sitting motionless for an hour or so until the military jets come to check them out and they'd wait until the jets get real close then in an instant race off away at a speed that made those jets look like they were the ones sitting still. This would go on all night long, night after night. I'm not going to claim anything about those lights other than they were silent, moved in ways and at speeds that no known human technology can. If there were a long history of crashed 'ufos' then we'd have come across them many times before even if we had no clue what to do with them. This suggests it hasn't happened before...or since, too.

This is just speculation but if we are being visited by some extra terrestrials the question I would pose is why have they never crashed before and why does it seem like they only crashed at the time they did? Humans were only exploding atomic bombs in the atmosphere for a very short time and it was during that short time in which the only really widely 'known' crash is to have supposedly occurred. Could it be that setting off an atomic bomb in the atmosphere messed up their technology enough to take one of their crafts out of the air and crash? Again, this is just pure speculation.

One member thinks alien insanity is boring...duly noted.

In a world that requires a dollar, you seem to believe he provides a dime, but really he's only offering his two cents.

Contemplate the notion of rude awakening...then realize it isn't.

Just straight to the point, if someone uses another person's ideas of success they won't measure up to it, and it's not just because what one seeks for in life is not what someone else does, which can be a powerful insight in itself. Genuine success is not something accomplished, it's a state of being. Of course, I just pointed out the part about using another person's ideas about success...so feel free to disregard mine.

No need to create any self suffering from it, it's really nothing to let it disturb our peace. Words are whatever. Just be.

@Anahata Oh, you are pointing at something, ok, well, then nevermind.

If you divide white light with a crystal or water it creates a rainbow and if you combine the rainbow of material pigments together into one it creates black. Contemplate that...

Ah yes, another person on the forum telling others 'you are doing spirituality wrong' with even calling out Leo to explain your way through how you think he is doing spirituality wrong. To be fair, Leo himself also does this on the forum. I encourage everyone to realize liberation, which is the cessation of self suffering because once one abides in that all 'truth seeking' with the accompanying parsing out of what one believes is the truth is recognized for what it is. Until then, good luck with the mystical mumbo jumbo, I hope it leads you to well being.

I will mostly frame this in the context of romantic relationships but it is generally accurate about almost everyone so we can be aware of it when we interact with others. I have found that people will reveal to us so much about themselves when they are talking about others, especially past relationships. We will learn how they will talk about us to others and about us as a past/present relationship. So when we meet someone and specifically in the case of someone we may view romantically listen closely to what they say about others and their past relationships. It doesn't mean it's always a red flag if they have anything negative to say about others or their past relationships but be aware of how they talk about these others and what they say about themselves in the context of the circumstances and narrative they are portraying. This gives insight into how they think now and how they likely will tell it presently, not what they think and say of it in the past or the future, though. We can even apply this to ourselves, be aware of how we view our own relations and what we say about them. The aspects of the circumstances we highlight or ignore, the narratives we create about them and how we portray them. I've been aware of this for a very long time and even catch my own mind trying to 'tell stories' about past, present and future people and situations that I will not believe because it's just self bias. Also, be aware of how we 'tell stories' about others to others, it will give insight even to oneself about how we think about and view it all. It will help to interrupt the reflexive bias the mind will conjure up and allow us an opportunity to view things in clarity. Finally, don't beat yourself up because of this, even as I have said all this stuff about being aware of how people tell the stories of the things in their life it does seem like you take some responsibility for them though they might not be yours to claim.

Truth is some conscious agent efforting to verify what it perceives as real for justification....wisdom is that conscious agent realizing it doesn't require justifying effort to be at peace with what is so is in liberation.

So raging at others who don't accept your word as gospel truth is now them raging at you? Wow...just wow.