Matt8800

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Posts posted by Matt8800

  1. Posted

    On 2/7/2020 at 1:25 PM, Beginner Mind said:

    I was just watching Leo's video, "What is God? Part 1" where he briefly mentions surrender.  This is a concept that has confused me for a long time now.  What does it really mean to surrender?  How does one surrender?  Surely it doesn't mean giving up all personal desires while sitting on your couch, waiting for God to arrange everything in your life for you...?  I'd love to hear Leo's take on this topic, and of course anyone else is welcome to respond.

    @Beginner Mind I think Taoism explains it best as not straining or forcing thinks against the flow of the Tao BUT Taoism says that we should use our full effort, without forcing, to flow WITH the Tao. Flowing with the Tao is another way of saying surrendering to the Tao.

  3. Posted

    @geddie212 You are making the assumption that death is "bad" and fear of death is reasonable.

    Enlightenment involves the death of fear so if someone is held at gunpoint, let the chips fall where they may.

    In case anyone says I would react different if I was in that position, that would be false. I have zero fear of death.

    Your fear of death is causing you to grasp and attach more strongly to life. If the timing of one's death is not under our control, why all the fuss?

  4. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    @Parththakkar12 Yes, the West will fall but the death of one thing is the birth of another. Its no more the "end of the world" than the fall of Rome was.

    Climate change will cause massive suffering closer to the equator but that is not the first time there has been massive extinctions. Eventually things will adjust and an evolutionary explosion will occur again. It has to happen and its inevitable. It is the natural cycles of the universe. Its not "bad".

    Go look at Elliott Wave Theory and then look at the inflation adjusted chart of the US stock Market. You'll see that the market is completing its full bull run that started with the industrial revolution. Things could get very interesting in the next month or so. Its completed its pattern as of last week and can start a corrective downtrend that would last at least 100 years.

    Dont stress out about it...flow with the Tao.

  5. Posted

    13 hours ago, Arcangelo said:

    Nah, not at all. I am pro-choice and I believe life starts at conception. I just DGAF if you wanna kill your own (beautiful) baby.

    @Arcangelo By "life", do you mean human cells that are living? By that definition, the placenta is "alive" also. Do you feel there are ethical obligations to the placenta?

    If you believe that life is defined as anything other than a physical manifestation of consciousness, it creates cognitive dissonance. If you believe human life is synonymous with human consciousness, it cannot be argued that there are any moral implications prior to the fetus developing the physical mechanisms necessary for consciousness.

     

  6. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    8 hours ago, Buba said:

    Is Reincarnation Real? How does it work? If someone commits suicide, to what kind of a life will he reincarnate? Will he start from zero in terms of consciousness work or will he continue from where he stopped?

    @Buba People can have whatever opinions they want but Ian Stevenson's research seems to indicate reincarnation is very much a reality. Ive read Stevenson's work and the critiques of his work and I found that every single one of the critiques violated Occam's Razor.

    People tend to be pulled by their biases depending on the dogma of the spiritual tradition or "teacher" they follow.

  7. Posted

    2 hours ago, d0ornokey said:

    Some people have a lot of pent up feelings in them which causes suffering 

    A safe space allows people to bring up these bottled up feelings and experience relief from this pain of not feeling understood, alone, or rejected. 

    It's like therapy, and mutual support. Like helping each other up. The need to be comforted, loved, understood can be extremely healing. It's actually incredibly powerful but a trap is that you find comfort with other people and never get to the root cause 

    @d0ornokey So, in other words, be kind and understanding.

    Is kind and understanding the definition of safe space to you? Do they differ in some way?

    If we were to say, "Be kind and understanding. Dont be an asshole", would that solve the safe space issue?

  8. Posted

    2 hours ago, Parththakkar12 said:

    @Matt8800 A lot of mastering your emotions involves healing from childhood traumas. We have inner child aspects that get emotionally triggered and defensive in response to certain traumatizing stimuli. A 'safe space' would be useful to help each other work through these extreme, unpleasant emotional reactions. Now, when you're working through that, the last thing you want is for someone to say/do something that is unintentionally re-traumatizing! This is such a huge issue that a lot of people are too scared to be vulnerable outside therapist's offices. The safe space would give you freedom around whom you want to trust, how vulnerable you want to be, etc. Not everyone is capable in participating in the healing of specific people, and the safe space would help discern that.

    Treating each other with kindness is nice, but not quite enough. We collectively need to help each other heal and dare I say, heal each other. This needs to become a lot more mainstream than doing it in a therapist's office!

    @Parththakkar12 If you are suggesting that we need designated "safe space" areas, thats not realistic. If someone has something that is so traumatic, it would be unwise to share it with anyone that they have not already developed a lot of trust for. If by "safe space", you mean discussing trauma for the purpose of healing with a kind, wise confidant, than I agree but why use the phrase "safe space".

    If I need to share something painful with my kind, wise significant other, I wouldnt refer to it as a safe space.

    What is the difference here? Are you suggesting that people should unload their drama in public places?

    Many times people share with me past trauma and I try to help them. Why is "safe space" a necessary label for that?

  9. Posted

    On 1/14/2020 at 9:44 AM, Parththakkar12 said:

    I understand what you're saying. Getting  triggered by 'micro-aggressions' is a personal problem and the resolution to that would be to master your emotions.

    A lot of our emotional issues have to do with lack of connection with each other. This means that we need each other's help to master our emotions because the human nervous system equates being alone with death! These emotional issues can be traced back to childhood traumas.

    Would we need safe-spaces for doing this emotional mastery? I think so. Are the safe-spaces today designed for emotional mastery? Probably not. The thing is, these are the most progressive people we have. The rest of us haven't recognized emotional issues to be real issues!

    @Parththakkar12 How are "safe spaces" relevant in any way if we simply treat others with kindness?

    What does promoting safe spaces do for people that promoting kindness doesnt?

  10. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    3 hours ago, tsuki said:

    Either you have never come into contact with a genuine victim, or you are in denial of your own suffering and pretending to be above it. Grow up.

    @tsuki There are genuine victims of things like rape, childhood abuse, etc and there needs to be a healthy way of transcending it. That is not what im referring to. Nobody is saying they shouldnt be listened to but on the other side of the coin, excessively fixating on past hurts is not going to help them transcend it either. There are balanced, therapeutic methods if someone is truly looking to transcend past hurts.

    Im referring to people that react to "micro-aggressions", political drama, etc..or need to be "heard" regarding their personal drama. If they have a hard time with a micro aggression, what are they going to do when real adversity comes their way? In many ways, its an insult to people in their world with real adversity. Can you imagine great people in history crying about a micro aggression and needing a "safe space"? It would never happen, which is why they were great.

  11. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    12 hours ago, Parththakkar12 said:

    Getting what you want (whatever that may be) is a good thing for spiritual evolution! Enlightenment comes only after you see that it didn't make you happy/it didn't take away your suffering. Denying yourself what you want, on the other hand, is unnatural and counter-productive. It's basically denying the reality of what you want, which is anti-spiritual.

    @Parththakkar12 I would disagree with your claim that feeding a needy ego is spiritually healthy. This is enabling with good intentions. It actually reinforces  their weakness. You see this concept play out when parents do too much for their children and they end up living unemployed in their parents basement as adults spending their life on video games and porn. Their parents have good intentions because they dont want to cause stress for their adult child but in reality, they are hurting them.

    My counter-claim is that detaching from a needy and illusory ego is spiritual evolution. Validating unhealthy neediness is just reinforcing an unhealthy ego. I believe that exercising tough love, with trying to minimize hurt, is a way to lift others up.

    If they reject tough love then there is nothing you can do for them anyway. 

     

  13. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    @LaucherJunge A good book about Tantra is Desire - The Tantric Path to Awakening.

    More than just sexuality, Tantra has a lot to say about embracing the body, the physical realm, pleasure, etc for spiritual evolution. Im a big fan of Tantra. Rather than rejecting experience, it acknowledges that beauty cannot be embraced if experience is rejected.

    Its said that Tantra is a faster path to enlightenment than asceticism (I agree) but can be more dangerous due to potential attachments.

  14. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    14 hours ago, eputkonen said:

    @Matt8800 , that's just it...duality does not exist.  Duality is a figment of imagination.  I talk about this in another video - https://youtu.be/e0op1RsrveQ

    A keyboard is a temporary form...death however is totally an imagined concept to indicate the "end" of a specific form.  "Birth" is also a totally imagined concept to indicate the "beginning" of a specific form.  However, everything that makes up that form existed prior its "birth" and continues to exist after its "death".  Nothing is gained or lost...only transforms.  It is like the conservation of energy.

    @eputkonen If direct experience (another way of saying imagination) isnt real, than nothing is which would make this whole conversation merely semantics. 

    We already know scientifically that there is no foundational reality to "stuff" and "things" but so what? How is this not just mental masturbation? Once someone realizes the illusory nature of reality, the illusion doesnt go away. I agree with Taoism that the illusion ideally needs to be flowed with. If one decides that they reject the illusion, then it is their personal Tao to simply wait to die without taking full opportunity for evolution. We could debate as to whether "evolution" is "real" (whatever "real" means) but my flow in this incarnation is geared towards my highest possible evolution in this incarnation.

    Yes, physical death is merely a process of transformation but that was not what this post was originally about. It was about people's aversion to that transformation. With that said, I agree that what most people project upon that transformation just ends up being delusion rooted in programmed animal instincts to survive.

    Im not disagreeing with your position on non-duality....Im just saying that once someone understands it, it becomes irrelevant after that point.

  15. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    1 hour ago, eputkonen said:

    "How Do You Feel About Death"

    @Raptorsin7 , there is no such thing as death.  To believe in death is to be fixated on, identified with, and attached to form.

    I created a short video a while ago about "Nonduality and death. What is death for a jnani?" - https://youtu.be/MNb4qijqHJE

     

    @eputkonen There's no such thing as your "keyboard" and yet you type on it even though it is imaginary. Why is that? ;)

    The reality of non-duality does not mean that duality does not exist. They paradoxically exist at the same time and to deny that is unhelpful. 

    There may be no such thing as death from a non-dual perspective and yet people that have near death experiences are profoundly and permanently changed from there "not-real" death.

    There is no such thing as the "self" and yet the Atman continues to be refined AFTER enlightenment. What is this non-existent "thing" that continues to be refined?

    For every birth, there is a death. Every death is followed by a birth into something else. Nothing dies as in it comes to an end - there is only change.

  16. Posted

    20 hours ago, Raptorsin7 said:

    What do the people on the forum think of their own eventual death? Higher consciousness individuals usually talk about experiencing physical death which leads to a realization of the truth or god. I wonder if you've had that experience of ego death do you have any fear of your eventual physical/real death?

    I've never had an enlightenment experience and I don't usually think about death. But if i got diagnosed with terminal cancer tomorrow I'd be terrified and I wouldn't want to die out of fear. How do others on here feel if you were given only a few days to live?

     

    @Raptorsin7 I have no fear of "death" of the physical body. Actually, it fascinates me. I am excited to see whats on the other side. Ive had enough paranormal experiences that I know I am not my body. Ive traveled on the astral realm and am looking forward to not being limited by a physical body.

  18. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    10 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

    Notice how this issue involves a struggle to draw a boundary/duality between: alive vs not-alive, conscious vs not-conscious, autonomous vs not-autonomous, part of the mother vs not part of the mother, fully human vs biomass, human vs fly, right vs wrong, moral vs immoral, etc.

    The mind wants to ground reality in such boundaries, but all such boundaries are untenable because reality is ONE. Which is why you struggle and struggle to draw those boundaries but will always fail. And why people disagree so much about where the boundaries lie.

    There is no point at which a baby is conscious or alive or autonomous or human. There is no point at which a baby is separate from a pine tree. Getting that takes you meta. Learning this lesson is one of the most important things Actualized.org has to teach you. Stop falling into the trap of objectifying dualistic distinctions. If you manage to do that, your mind will be set radically free and peace can come to the world.

    Or, continue fighting over imagined dualities.

    @Leo Gura Truth! But very few people can grasp the implications. If they did, their animal instincts would be even more horrified :)

  19. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    1 hour ago, remember said:

    @Matt8800 i never said it is killing although it is - it is the same as killing a fly or a worm - a placenta is not autonomous from the woman it is part of and so is the fetus, until it is able to live by itself, although we could discuss here when autonomy begins. for a lot of women probably connection to autonomous human entity starts at the moment of autonomous heartbeat. but real autonomy starts only after more than a decade - so you could ask when the state of the fetus even ends and consciousness begins.

    @remember The notion of autonomy is nonsensical when referring to a unconscious lump of biomass. A fly (like all living beings) has autonomy because it is conscious.

    If you look at the definition of autonomy, you'll see it has no relation to whether a pump pumps fluid around the biomass. Autonomy begins when one exerts their will.

    https://www.dictionary.com/browse/autonomy

  20. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    On 1/8/2020 at 7:20 AM, tenta said:

    Now ask yourself how many people also put in hard work, have a high IQ, have high willpower and believe they can accomplish the goal - but don't

    Would you have achieved the same results if you were deformed? If you lost a leg? If you were severely depressed and had trouble getting out of bed every day?

    Also I am talking about more specific hierarchies not just making money in general

    @tenta First, I havent met too many people that have as much willpower as I do so I have no idea. I have succeeded at just about every business I have started and rose to the top. I lost my money and went out and made it again. If I lose it again, Ill go out and make it again. Its never been that hard for me. I lived in a storage unit once after a business failure and started a new business while living in the storage unit that made me my first million.

    The difference between me and others is I have massive willpower and believe I will rise to the top in everything I do. I have no fear.

    I was severely depressed but because of all the willpower I have, I got out of bed regardless. Not sure why having a deformed leg would have stopped me from starting a finance company :)

    Someone with less intelligence, less willpower, lack of belief in themselves and has fear will not be able to do what I have done. Someone that needs the illusory security of working for someone else will never be able to come close to what Ive done. I have never worked for other people and never will.

    Your attitude will keep you broke because you dont take responsibility for your future. I take total responsibility. Have you ever considered you are simply doing it wrong (working for someone else, wrong business, etc)? I might not succeed as easily as someone whose father is a billionaire but how much money does someone need?

    Continue with your philosophy if you want but its to your own detriment. 

    Regarding other hierarchies, Ive always risen to the top in every "hierarchy" Ive participated in BUT I always start my own company so its my hierarchy. The reason I rise to the top is precisely because of my attitude. I never pursued a four year college degree because if I need the knowledge, I have just hired people with degrees to work for me. Degrees are for employees, not the owners.

    I may sound arrogant but Im trying to be frank about my approach to make the point. With all that said, if you are going to work for someone else, than you will remain their slave 40 hours a week. Companies dont hire employees to make the employees rich. People start companies to hire employees that will make the founders rich. You are confused on what is causing someones failure to rise - they are working the wrong vehicle, wrong attitude, ignorance, ego, etc, etc.

  21. Posted

    On 1/7/2020 at 2:42 AM, Codrina said:

    Abortion is killing. Killing is destruction.

    Life is a play between creation and destruction. We all kill something every day.

    When people will be able to look at the tomato plant in their garden with the same degree of compassion as they look at an infant then we will be in a truly blessed world. 

    I had two abortions in this lifetime - condom malfunction. Having a child without the possibility to care for it properly was not something I wanted.

    There is a lot of destruction in the world because of unconscious parents. I did not want to be one of them.

    @remember If abortion is killing, is throwing out the placenta "killing"? Whats the difference between a placenta and a fetus that is not developed enough to be conscious?

  23. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    On 1/6/2020 at 8:27 PM, Flowerfaeiry said:

    I don't want to stir anything up, I simply have a thought I wanted to share with you. From what I've seen, pro-choice arguments seem to stem from the idea that a baby in a womb is not a life, and as such, aborting it is not killing a life. Then pro-life says that it is indeed a life, and that we cannot excuse murder, no matter what. 

    I don't think that it is debatable whether or not a baby is a life inside of the womb. When actually looked at deeply it becomes obvious that abortion is indeed, killing a life. I think instead, we need to start accepting that abortion is a type of killing that is acceptable to some people. While pro-life side will still continue to argue that this murder of unborn babies is wrong, at least pro-choice will not be riding their argument on a falsity. 

    Abortion is killing a life, a killing that society is generally okay with for a variety of reasons. 

    I think that if pro-choice would simply accept the fact that abortion is killing instead of taking some round about way of looking at it, we may start to see more peace around the issue. 

    @Flowerfaeiry People say that because they havent thought it through. People say they value "human life" but really what they mean to say is human consciousness. That is why we throw out the placenta. Even though the placenta is human life, it is not conscious.

    Terminating a fetus before the mechanisms in the brain that enable consciousness is formed is morally equivalent to removing a mole. People get confused because their biologically driven sentimentalism regarding taking care of the young hijacks their reasoning abilities.

    It is only an ethical issue AFTER consciousness is present.

  24. Posted · Edited by Matt8800

    On 1/7/2020 at 6:03 AM, tenta said:

    The fact that people who are high up the hierarchy are known for that instead of other qualities points to something, hard work of the people at the top of the hierarchy is much more highlighted so it reinforces the belief that hard work is what got them there when in reality there are others working hard and having the qualities they're highlighting

    @tenta Thats definitely not my experience.

    I was raised by a single mother that was a waitress half the time and on welfare the other half. I was a millionaire by the time I was 33. 

    For me, it was totally hard work, intelligence, good instinct and strength of will. I got to the "top" because I believed it was up to me. Many times, others stay at the "bottom" because they believe they dont have a choice in the matter, although that certainly isnt always the case.

    Whatever you believe will tend to be true. I believed I could accomplish whatever I wanted to accomplish so I did. I never paid attention to people that would say I didnt have a chance because I started out severely disadvantaged. Maybe that applies to other people but not to me....because I believed that to be so.