SOUL

That isn't a question. Just be..... since we cannot be anything other than being. So the fulfillment of our potential as aware beings is being aware of being aware. The simple life.

@hinawashi We only fight wars we create so I made peace with it and don't make an enemy out of myself. Now there's no conflict.

Yes, being is a temporary effect only present in the now. Heh

@hinawashi ....are you at peace with this state of being?

The void can't be the 0th dimension....it's the void, it isn't anything, not absolute truth, not a dimension, not even consciousness. The void in it's actual nature is the absence of anything, there isn't anything we can say to describe it, the word void is still too much for it. Zero(0) isn't the void either, zero is a value through it's absence of value, it's what we imagine the void to be.

@rakuul I wonder what happened to the guy who was living and learning from that loving, compassionate and benevolent core to become the guy who exerts effort by insulting someone else who is doing the same thing in living and learning from their own core just because they don't share the same exact ideas in doing so. That would be an interesting self talk conversation I'd love to be a fly on a turd blossom nearby to hear it.

I haven't watched very many of Leo's videos, just a handful of them on certain big picture topics to get an grasp of his approach and I can agree with this in ways. Let me first say that nearly everyone on youtube speaks from their own certainty in their opinions, I don't know that someone would take the time to create a channel, shoot videos, edit and post them to be unsure of what they are saying. Which Steven also does himself, he's certain in his authority of being "right" with his opinion about Leo as well as his own professed positions he's expressed in the rest of his videos so the criticism can appear hypocritical. If someone is saying things we are open to or already agree with people tend to overlook the tone of the speaker to instead focus on the message but if it's something we don't agree with a are closed off to tone gets amplified so is another reasons to reject it.

I looked for that childhood video to see it and I cannot find it, was it taken down? If not can you post a link to it?

The guru would ask.... Who is the one that is triggered?

This is about personal evolution of the individual, not a grand scale humanity evolution. No crisis isn't required for evolution even though yes a crisis can provide an environment that only certain traits will survive and flourish in it but that isn't the only conditions that adaptation happens. Change is constant, you can't help but change so either you become an influence that contributes to the transformation or you become the one who has to deal with the random results of it. It's your choice but either way, we are changing.

@eskwire Oh, don't bother watching it, he doesn't actually rebut anything, he just insults without any real discussion about it. I kept waiting for a reasoned reply to points he disputed and it never came. It's a problem with hyper rationalism in assuming by those that employ it that their opinion is the "right" one. Couple that with a morality mindset that their opinion is also what's "good" and anything that is different is "evil" so this is what results. With no filtering of the ego justification it just runs rampant and they cannot find any peace in life at all.. It takes someone who may have some ideas worthy of consideration and can turn them into an extremist bigot. It's not worth spending that much time on, he doesn't add anything of value to contemplate.

I didn't want to make a snap judgement so I went and looked at some previous videos going years back to get an idea of their evolution as a person. It seems like he got swept up in the animosity and angst of the past year that is so prevalent in society as well as him taking on a Molyneux styled world view. His rational reductionist position coupled with the intolerance of views that don't reflect his own appears to have bred a certain amount of emotional and intellectual hatred. His issues with the philosophical and spiritual differences between his ideas and Leo's are ones not uncommonly expressed by the scientific minded towards them. I also don't agree with some of Leo's ideas and even share some of the same concerns about the assertions of "truth" about some but I recognize that with regard to consciousness there is so much subjective understanding we get from our experience there isn't a reason for me to let it bother me. What's interesting about looking at that guy.....who I suspect is the one who started this thread, is that he had some really interesting videos and looked liked he was working towards well being but at some point it completely changed. He got caught up in Molyneux's self righteous crusade mentality, adopted all that rhetoric and any of the healthy progress he had made up to that point was wiped away by it. One of his videos called "who deserves compassion?" kind of signaled his growing intolerance for anyone who isn't on board with his ideology or what he thinks people should be doing. In that video he may have accurately assessed that not allowing others to be abusive towards us is a healthy way to be though he also asserted that those people don't deserve our compassion which mirrors the us vs them war that is taking place in society. We can actually not allow others to be abusive towards us while we still maintain a compassionate disposition towards them, these aren't mutually exclusive. By harboring that animosity towards the ideologically different you can see how it's manifested in a malevolent attitude towards someone who has nothing more than a differing opinion. Being so consumed with his opinions and them being "right" that it's not just an attack on his identity, he unconsciously sees it as an attack on his very being so hence the lashing out. I actually have compassion for the guy, his earlier videos have some great ideas and undoubtedly provided some value for the few who viewed them but he took a turn about a year or so ago. @rakuul , I have shared some of my thoughts, if you would like to discuss it we can do it here or in private messages.

Expectations lead to disappointment. It may be that it became a bit too complicated and that was a distraction so simplify it again. Even if you want to try a different focus or method of it still stay simple with it. Although, expectations often are a stumbling block in our progress. Approach mindfulness in neutral, open or "empty" disposition. Another way to describe it would be an undetermined mindset. Let the experience be what it will be.

I know it may be easier to say than to do but don't beat yourself up over it. It was just a moment in passing and now that moment has passed so just let it stay passed, focus instead on the present moment.. It doesn't help in creating more suffering for something that happened in the past whether the event is 3 days past or 3 years or 3 decades. We all do things that we may not intend to do but it happens anyway. Forgive yourself, clear it from your mind and move on.

So my scale is lying to me! Gah!

@Shin If the popular theory right now says "all ideas, concepts and beliefs are mind construct so are an illusion" then everything humans have ever said about it are an illusion. No matter how perfectly it may seem to explain.......it. is. all. just. bull.. . . .... . .... .. ... .... .... . . ... .. . . .. . . If you believe that theory this would be the actuality of it, not just in theory.. We cannot even be able to form ideas that reflect the infinite let alone describe it in language for someone else we would hope could understand. So all of this discussion about the stuff we think we can "know" is just from our mind even if we tell ourselves that isn't what we are looking for or offering. Maybe you just made the ultimate detachment to mind, the "it all" one.

Oh, it is just bullshit. Although, bullshit enriches the soil and makes it more fertile for growth. Heh

@LifeandDeath Yes, the use of labels in duality creates identity in the mind and with morality there's a sense judgement in it, the good and evil paradigm is especially self glorifying and demonizing those that disagree. It's not just the difference between a right and wrong idea, it's divine blasphemy to be in err while anointing themselves arbiter. of it. Once we transcend labeling do we need to call compassion something other than what it is to know what it is? Is abusive behavior any less what it is because there's no overarching moral decree? It's the ultimate comparative duality that the ego uses to anoint itself in justification while simultaneously discredits any that differ. Duality can be problematic hindrance to the individual in the more tempered contrasts but morality takes it to another level in emotional response baggage altogether. That how some will wind up being abusive to others thinking they are themselves delivering justice in doing so while on the other hand their own abusive behavior justifies themselves under some moral authority.

"This study suggests that college-age men and women may have divergent responses to meditation training. Specifically, women benefit more by demonstrating decreased negative affect and improved mindfulness and self-compassion skills. Conversely, men did not show improvements in negative affect, nor did improvements in mindfulness and self-compassion translate to improved affect as it did in women." An interesting read if you have the patience to read this long report from a self professed first ever study in this manner.

It very well can be if someone has that concept as a belief which they identify with. Which is why I don't identify as such, it isn't a belief in something, it's the absence of a belief in something.

@zazed I don't identify as "non-dual". In the manifest reality there are lots and lots of patterns, some of duality, some of trinity, some of singularity, some of infinity, some in variety. In the manifest reality there is many different patterns but consciousness transcends the manifest and unmanifest reality. Some might leap up and say, but SOUL, isn't that a duality with the manifest and unmanifest? Hehe... Duality is a concept of two parts often in opposition and the separate mindset will believe it as divided into two different parts. Except the manifest is a part of the unmanifest, not apart from the unmanifest, it's a whole. It would be like our head thinking it's exists apart from the whole body it is a part of, without the rest of the body the head isn't thinking it's anything. Another way to illustrate it is the yin yang symbol, everyone usually focuses on the two different halves but few recognize it's a whole unto itself that neither of the parts are by themselves. That's what the one who sees beyond the parts does to recognize the whole, it's dissolves being apart in mind to instead perceive the whole. Which is why we do consciousness work to perceive through any dividing lines in our minds, our consciousness is both, it's whole not just in parts. I'm not an advisor on how to live, I don't claim any authority or expertise in anything. I simply am being as consciously as I can.

There is no duality in the manifest existence, that concept is just a mistaken perception in the mind.

@Barna Another illustration i can use is comparing meditation to learning to play an instrument. When we are learning to play an instrument at first it's a struggle since our fingers and hands don't know where to go also the passion is absent. Then as we learn we become more able to form musical arrangements not just exercises for learning. Though at that point our playing may have less passion in the playing and still is mechanical, we hear the song but we don't feel it. Eventually we play the song with passion and this radiates out from us to others who experience it feel that, too. Even further would be to grow to being able to spontaneously improvise within the song all the while keeping the passion. I wouldn't venture to guess where your mediation is in that illustration but eventually you will be able to turn up the volume and improvise! Keep practicing!

These are just ideas and concepts of the mind that people believe in. By saying that one "knows" it and not believes it does not change what it is, something in the mind that one trusts as being valid. "be·lieve/bəˈlēv/ verb 1 accept (something) as true; feel sure of the truth of. 2 hold (something) as an opinion; think or suppose." Why do so many cling to it as having value to free the mind from beliefs while it is belief itself? It may be reasoned that on the way to freeing the mind of all beliefs this is the last one before it's released in enlightenment. With the vast number of sincere seekers and yet so few who attain what they seek maybe it is a stumbling block more than it is a stepping stone to them. My intent is not to be critical of others at all, in fact I am genuinely hoping that everyone finds what they seek. I am being without ever believing that life is maya, without believing the mind is illusion and without believing I know the Absolute Truth. In your seeking it is something to consider... but don't think too long on it, just let it go already. I am being here now without ever using these beliefs.

Love is love, hate is hate, compassion is what it is and abuse is as well. We can live loving and compassionate lives and we can eliminate hate and abuse in us without ever seeing it as moral. Dividing everything into two piles and labeling one "good" and the other "evil" is endorsing the separated mindset. As someone grows in recognition of us being as part of a whole being the natural expression of that is to not harm a part of ourselves. If someone needs a code or rules to tell them to not do harm, have they awakened at all?