Are you a believer? Or; How much of a believer are you?

[UnbornTao]

9 hours ago, Eskilon said:

@UnbornTao I believe in Peter Ralston and Adi Da just like uuuuuuuuuuu *sarcasm

Praise the Lord, Amen!

You've just been banned indefinitely from this place; no sarcasm allowed.

-

That occurs regardless, but there's a (subtle at times) difference between listening, and believing.

The object of the belief isn't as relevant as the act and impulse to believe is - and of course this dynamic applies to this place too (hello ). This is why I created the thread, for the most part.

Edited 22 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

16 hours ago, Jodistrict said:

He gave a lucid description of cult dynamics.  But Bakti yoga is a legitimate path to awakening. The beliefs are Buddha’s raft to be discarded once the river is crossed.

It’s delusional to make an enemy of beliefs because then you tends to believe that you are the special one who doesn’t have any beliefs and those beliefs you aren’t aware of are your reality, making you no different than the cultist.

That is not really the point. Believing is fine. The problem is mistaking it for the truth - which we do all the time - and not recognizing a belief for what it is. I'm not saying this effort is not deeply threatening to our sense of ourselves and the world. We'd rather accumulate more beliefs than discard them.

Notice the inherent vulnerability in not believing anything, if such a state can be achieved, and to whatever degree we move toward it.

The aim of this thread is to point out this need, too. And that analogy doesn't apply here. It could be used with models, meditation, theory, exercises, etc. - not belief. Belief would be like a rope tied to the boat, preventing it from moving toward the other shore.

Notice the dynamic playing out as we speak. For example, the promise of any practice is inherently adopted and assumed on faith. There's a bunch of assumptions (belief) underlying that short statement.

As you say, the bitch of this topic is finding out the ones we aren't aware of.

[UnbornTao]

2 hours ago, Jordan said:

This applies to me a lot but I can remove certain beliefs for a certain amount of time. I believe that all beliefs are so simplified that they are in a sense all untrue, even that belief but that doesn't keep me from believing at the same time that my beliefs are absolutely true even though I see it is very childish. I still have to constantly remind myself beliefs are not what I am telling myself they are.

This is a wise thing to keep in mind.

You can have them - my suggestion would be to just recognize them for what they are (which unironically diminishes much of their power over us).

No belief is true - consider this. Some can be valid, useful, functional.

[Jordan]

6 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

This is a wise thing to keep in mind.

You can have them - my suggestion would be to just recognize them for what they are (which unironically diminishes much of their power over us).

No belief is true - consider this. Some can be valid, useful, functional.

Yes, they are not true in the sense that no matter what believes they are, they are not as accurately representing reality as they seem. They can still be crazy powerful. They can cure cancer and destroy civilizations.

[James123]

43 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

What do you mean?

Expectation, in my view, is imagining the future turning out a certain way - conceiving of a particular scenario for the future.

Expectations or beliefs are something about you, which is not there.

[Nivsch]

3 hours ago, Jordan said:

Aren't you concerned that you might be deceiving yourself with your own thoughts and emotions? Thoughts and emotions really don't seem like something you can trust in to tell you the truth.

I don't think we should believe their content, but to investigate their inner logic.

[UnbornTao]

23 hours ago, Lila9 said:

Yes, it requires constant and radical awareness.

I don't know how doable it is to transcend our tendency for beliefs (as well as biases and assumptions, which are in the same family).

Maybe the transcendence is part of being enlightened, which is rare.

Or we can access temporary states with no concepts in mind, including beliefs, through various spiritual practices (meditation, yoga, drugs, nature etc).

You're right in that it might not be possible to entirely transcend the tendency, but a lot of progress can be made in that direction. 

No need for enlightenment in order to discard beliefs, I don't think. It probably helps, though. 

Tons of practices promote belief-interchange as the path towards what's true. They just don't realize it. But yes, I get your point. 

23 hours ago, Lila9 said:

There must be many undiscovered truths, the same as for anyone.

It depends on how open one is to the truth and how attached they are to their beliefs.

Definitely. I see openness and attachment to one's beliefs as mutually exclusive, in a way.

As for the question above, for example, we might live as if life were somehow fundamentally unfair. And we might think this is true.

How could this belief be recognized for what it is? Something to look into. 

And look at the resistance that might come up as a result of this confrontation, too.

[UnbornTao]

On 4/13/2026 at 5:54 PM, Nivsch said:

I am trusting my brain. Every emotion and thought it brings to me is a good thing.

That could be the case. Is it entirely accurate, though? 

What is thinking? What is emotion? 

[UnbornTao]

21 hours ago, Jordan said:

Yes, they are not true in the sense that no matter what believes they are, they are not as accurately representing reality as they seem. They can still be crazy powerful. They can cure cancer and destroy civilizations.

Yes. "Representing" is the key term here. Even if valid and accurate, that is what believing is about.

[UnbornTao]

21 hours ago, James123 said:

Expectations or beliefs are something about you, which is not there.

I still think there's some resistance to acknowledging your experience as it is, but that's fine.

Consider: Is that something you've just heard and then adopted as true?

[UnbornTao]

Some of the mods should carefully watch the video.

[James123]

1 hour ago, UnbornTao said:

I still think there's some resistance to acknowledging your experience as it is, but that's fine.

Thoughts arises and falls. Yet, when attachment to it takes place resistance is inevitable.

1 hour ago, UnbornTao said:

Consider: Is that something you've just heard and then adopted as true?

Doesn't matter who says. All matters is, does it point out to surrender or not.

[Willy Phallicus]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Joseph Maynor]

Who is the other we view as the other

[Joseph Maynor]

On 4/13/2026 at 0:08 PM, UnbornTao said:

Praise the Lord, Amen!

You've just been banned indefinitely from this place; no sarcasm allowed.

You love to lord your power somewhat, you agree?