What Peter Ralston Gets Wrong

[Willy Phallicus]

3 hours ago, Mellowmarsh said:

But here’s the kicker. If or when just one single person ever claims to genuinely know what they are talking about regarding the absolute nature of reality - then anyone can do the same, and not one single one of them will be wrong about their claim because all these claims are being sourced from the exact same place, namely a brain.

Any attempt in any arena of reality to sort fact from fiction is futile and foolish because it's all fiction.  The question is, which fiction do I choose?  Some people have hitched their wagon to some really crappy fiction and it makes them into assholes.  Some people are living some really great fictions and it makes their ride worth the going.  Yet the biggest problem most people have is that their 'facts' have locked them into a shitty script and they don't know how to get out or even that there is an out to their own sad little story - that probably was never really theirs to begin with - it was thrust upon them as fact before they could do anything about it.  

I could easily package up some bullshit and make a good living as a sheep fleecer - so here is the lesson - a truth sold is a lie well told.  Anyone trying to sell you anything is full of shit.  There is no secret occult knowledge that is going to set you free.  The Truth won't ever get you laid - that's what bullshit (game) is for playa.

It's not hard to get people to believe, they'll believe anything and that's the problem.  People will believe in anything but themselves - which the majority of gurus or teachers depends on to keep themselves from working a mundane 9-5 and living paycheck to paycheck like most of the cattle - and getting metaphorically or literally fellated by your followers tricks their asses into thinking they're doing good work.

I'm not trying to knock anyone who has benefitted from Ralston's work, there is some good stuff there but to me its just a modern take on ancient ideas.  Ralston needs you more than you need Ralston.

 

[Breakingthewall]

Experience is deceptive because it implies duality: the experiencer and the object of experience, what appears. The word "experience" refers to that, however you look at it.

Therefore, if you say that experience is absolute, you are saying that something inherently relative is absolute. You should first say that experience is the fact of being appearing in an apparently dualistic way, and that if you collapse that apparent duality, what remains is the fact of being, which is absolute and doesn't necessarily have to appear as experience. 

This point is essential because if you don't understand it, you will believe that reality is consciousness and you will be trapped in a duality that you will call non-duality. Experience is the reality being conscious of itself, not the reality. The reality is absolute and it's beyond consciousness. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Breakingthewall

[Mellowmarsh]

@Willy Phallicus For me personally, I’d be totally embarrassed selling water by a river. Or trying to coach people a life I think they should follow. It’s arrogant for anyone to think they know what’s best for someone else, especially to tell someone else they’re not enlightened yet, just because someone else is following a certain guru that doesn’t measure up to their own personal standard.

I personally enjoy self inquiry and then writing about what I’ve discovered to forums. It’s entertaining for me. I certainly wouldn’t dream of making my own personal self inquiry findings into a money making business. 
 

 

 

 

[Willy Phallicus]

8 minutes ago, Mellowmarsh said:

Or trying to coach people a life I think they should follow.

Lead by example is my stance - and do that without doing it - wu wei.

The journey can only be undertaken by the individual.  During that journey you may run into at least one individual who is on a similar journey as you who you can compare notes with.  I can almost guarantee that person is not going to tell you what author's books to buy.

That's not to say those things (books, manuals, teachers, gurus) are totally worthless but again, it comes down to the individual.