DocHoliday

@Outer It's kind of exactly what I was referring to in my prior explanation. Solipsism is the perspective one takes in which he believes that he is literally god, therfore, he thinks that his mind and only his mind is the creator of the world in which every other object and person resides. But since this is not the case because we only have ONE consciousness from which every individual "mind" or "ego" is derived, solipsism is in and of itself false - kind of.

@Outer Solipsism in my opinion destroys itself immediately because from my understanding, a solipsist believes that the entire world and all of reality is "only made for him" and that he literally is God and nobody else could be God as well, so that nobody else would be allowed to have that same thought of "Oh, wait, am I the only real being that is alive here?". But since many people share this world view, solipsism destroys itself because the very foundaion of solipsism would be that only one single human being would be granted to have this concept in order for it to work.

@Joseph Maynor Well, how could I possibly know this Joseph? I've experienced it myself and many others on their path towards enlightenment have too, so chances are quite high it will play out like this for him. Edit: It's the phase where you align yourself towards the middle-way, the Yin and Yang in harmony - both extremes equally represented. So, either it's that, or he might go through a differnt phase altogether, but based on his description it sounds quite similar to what this phase is like.

@Psyche_92 Yes this is a very common state or phase of fluctuation and oscillation. It will subside at some point but it varies in length individually, since it kind of represents the "last stand" of your ego - it's its final attempts to drag you back into it. In the end you will settle for the equilibrium.

@jjer94 I know that cycle between crying and laughing quite well myself...for me it started when I was really young, surprisingly, like when I was 8 or 9, I came home, sat down by the kitchen table and just started crying for no particular reason at all - the same happened when I was listening to a particular kind of music because I became so immersed, that I just kind of "lost myself" in it, just like Tyler in all the self-help groups; he is just letting go of his stories and conceptual frameworks - he surrenders a little tiny bit more everytime he cries (the laughing is then just the uprising from that purifying state, during which you catapult yourself back into life where it now appears so much more vibrant and alive).

YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!! Why most of us have broken the first rule of fight club and what that entails as a sonsequence. / Why spirituality and enlightenemnt can't and won't conquer the world by storm. The resason why the first and second rule of fight club is to not talk about fight club, is because you mustn't introduce people to fight club who aren't ready for it. Spiritual masters and sages have done wisely in refusing disciples as long as they don't beg to be taken in by the master on the "grand secret". People who aren't ready to receive it either are completely crushed by it and it will destroy their lives (that's what's happened to Bob by the way), or, they will run a muck with it and distort the truth and twist it around accordingly to their needs and "own version of the truth". This is most likely what has happened to people we have prematurely informed about- and taken in on spirituality and self-realisation and it is a crucial mistake we have to become aware of in order to stop "putting the right means into the hands of the wrong people". This is the main differnece between the way ideologies work and how spirituality works: ideologies are forced upon people, so they either have to adapt to it, or face the consequences that go along with being a non-conformist. Spirituality on the other hand tends to behave like the man who wishes to catch butterflies, bot only sits down with his net until sooner or later a butterfly flies into his net by mere coincidence, fate or deliberate willingness and stays there, since the butterfly-hunter doesn't even make an attempt to keep the butterfly in his net. This is why the spiritual development of our collective consciousness can't transform simply over night. Just as Leo said it once in one of his episodes, an individual needs to naturally evolve through the stages of spiral dynamics one by one; so in just the same way the receptivity for spirituality has to evolve gradually by itself in a natural, unforced manner. For people who already are enlightened it can become difficult at times to withhold the fruits and benefits of enlightenment and to not take other people in on this "secret", due to his unbounded compassion towards others, yet he mostly doesn't realise the consequences that can bring to other people who aren't ready to receive it. So, the only differnece between the pratjeka-buddha and the boddhisatva is that the latter still takes in other people on the truth on non-duality as long as they prove to be ready for it and the first, just doesn't and refuses to teach and keeps his realisation to himself. If you consider yourself to be a boddhisatva, please keep this in mind as you go around presenting the Truth to other people around you.

@Girzo But it's sure gonna be lots of fun, that's for sure. And the effect will stack up once you can make other people more care-free as well. Would love to hear from you how it plays out!

@Girzo Glad to hear that! As a small bonus tip: try to catch yourself during your day-to-day activities and interactions with other people and just notice how a good laugh and more empathy towards others really brakes down any artificial barriers between them. Works like magic, I'm telling ya, if you can make people laugh, they will alomst do anything for you (and with you, together) - and I don't mean to say that in an exploitational manner.

@Samuel Garcia Yes you have to go through it. Thta's the important point - THROUGH it - you don't dwell in it. That's the thing they teach you in kong fu or some other kind of eastern martial arts, you gotta hit THROUGH the wall, not at it. Patience is important, and you need to have trust. Those two will get you through it, patience and trust - trust that'll be over sooner than you think. I've read this in the thread about enlightenment one-liners and cetus56, I believe, posted this marvellous quote where he said "I've never met a man who gave me more trouble than myself". So, there you go. Sooner or later you will come to terms with the fact that there is nobody and nothing "out there" that causes anything that arises inside you, it's all you. I hope this helped you some more, but let me know if you have any additional questions or obstructions that confuse you.

@Crauli Ah, now we can clearly see what you mean. Nice idea, but that won't change the fact that enlightened people are never activists of any kind - not really, unless they are the main activist who started a particular movement, but other than that, enlightened people never actually follow other people. They are the ones who lead, when it comes to true leadership.

@Crauli Sorry, but there's just not that much poetic about it. If you can't properly explain what you want or what you mean, than most likely nobody else on this forum will take the time to decode and decrypt it.

@Crauli Look, whether you think I'm enlightened or not really doesn't bother me and certainly nobody else either, but when you're going about looking for people to support your vision you might as well wanna explain it and elaborate on it a little more than just putting up one-liners.

What?!

@Crauli That is presupposing that you yourself are enlightened, since other enlightened people would then completely understand to follow your lead, isn't it? Truly enlightened beings don't care about anything anymore really, because they are no longer afraid of death. As long as you wanna fight for something and keep struggling to reach something...that's neither enlightenment nor will anybody who is enlightened support that cause.

@Crauli You serious, bruh? Enlightened beings don't really care that much about ecology, they actually care a lot more about the people who mess it up, so that the problem gets fixed by the root, ya know? And enlightened people especially don't "fight" for anything at all for that matter...

I really love this video, not just because my signature kind of replicates it, but because I think it reminds everybody who gets very serious in this work that life isn't always as serious as we make it out to be. Furthermore, I can relate to it a lot, since my "breakthrough enlightenment" experience was accompanied by the deepest and most heart- and mind-melting laughter you could imagine. Since then, I pretty much always carry a slight smile or smirk on face, especially when I run into people who are so deeply immersed in their negative thoughts an feelings, because I can always see my self reflecting in them during the time when I was just like them.

@egoless Yep, seems just absolutely fine to me, that’s how it goes. I just loved that period myself, it‘s so fascinating. Keep us informed about your progress buddy!

@Joseph Maynor Yes that is also true, although I was referring to the very first exposure that people have with spirituality and non-duality.

@Mighty Mouse That‘s another way to put it.? I think in our discussions on these various topics, most of the time we are actually saying the same things, they’re just wrapped up differently and packaged into other, varying arrangements of words. The ones who know It, know it, so in the end it doesn’t exactly matter how we try to express it through words and language. (Even though it is still important in some way, please don’t get me wrong here:P)

@egoless Source_Mystic and you have really got it right on point. True non-duality can‘t be achieved through any other way than exploring both extremes and then, from that basis, you can come to equilibrium. That’s what Yin and Yang are for - both extremes in harmony. It‘s the middle way.

@sarapr Well, now you know better to at least watch videos 'till the end before making such premature statements.

@Joseph Maynor So if deception is based upon belief, when I'm free of any beliefs, then does that make me free of deception? I'd certainly say so, because in order to even have a deception in the first place, it requires a belief (that I identify with) that contrasts against its negating counterpart, to which I obviously don't pay much attention or give merit to, thus deception is created.

@egoless In regards to the equilibrium that you're speaking of, that's definetely a necessity because you can never ever function without an ego, have you guys ever noticed that? It follows along the same lines as the desire to get rid of desire - it doesn't work because even the desire to get rid of desire is yet agan just another desire in and of itself, so just in the same way wanting to live without any identification, that is to say to live without an ego, isn't possible because the simple act of not wanting to identify yourself with anything automatically becomes your new identifiation, you see? Ego doesn't exist, but you can nonetheless never get rid of it. Therefore, to aim for an equilibrium is what's best in my opinion, and even beyond that, it's necessary.