what is the most important thing in the world

[Olaf]

I was thinking about what is the most important thing in the world and then a thought came "the most important thing in the world is you're next step, the next step towards you're development". I thought about it for a bit and now I really see that this could be the most important thing and number one thing to put all you're focus and attention on. For example, lets say you have an alcoholic, the most obvious thing that would help his improvement is stop drinking alcohol, but would it help if he learned about enlightenment or dating or whatever? No, because his main problem is alcohol and it would improve his life drastically if he took his first step to becoming sober, even if that starts with as little as being 1 day sober, that would be more important then anything he could ever learn.

Even if a billionaire gave him some advice to make millions, it would not be developing him, because he would use all that money to buy more alcohol and do more stupid stuff. So looking in you're life, what is the next important step? Small step, big step, the next step allong you're journey which could be as simple as eating healthy or sleeping better or having a routine etc.

There is something you know that would develop you in the overall scale, but that you don't want to do, because you want the result now, you want the success now, you want the result now, when that is not important, the journey is important. The result might be a motivation to stay on the journey of developing yourself like a stick to chase, to keep it in front of you to keep running. You're next steps and you're development, that is what truely matters, not the end goal. 

So lets take one more example, lets say you want to become a professional magician, you want to learn how to do magic. I am speaking about this as I have allot of authority on this subject lol. So lets say you want to be a magician, are you now gonna call the theaters that you want to perform a big show in their theater? Are you gonna try to get on tv or get in the spotlight? No. You first start with the most important part for a beginner. Learning the basics. Mastering the basic moves with cards or coins. You master those, then the next most important step is to learn a routine, learn multiple routines and practice them in front of people, in front of the mirror. Then the next step would be to get a mentor and learn, read books, become better until you are ready for the next step which is doing small performances, maybe birthday parties or on an open mic. And only then after years of improving and following the next step towards you're improvement, can you call yourself a magician that is ready to take on the world.

So think about what is the next step for you that actually leads to growth, that doesn't mean it directly leads to the end result that you have in mind, but it moves the needle, which can be very indirectly having something to do with you're goal. Just like the alcoholic example, it is very indirect, it seems like it has nothing to do with you're goal, but it actually has everything to do with it, because you can't do any work properly and improve as an alcoholic. So the question should be, what is the most significant next step, what is the next step that is gonna be a game changer even if it is small? To me, that is the most important thing in the world, more important then achieving any goal and to figure out what that next step is, is just as important. And funnily enough if you focus on those things, those significant changes that you need to make, that are painful and don't directly get to you're goal, when you make those changes, you will actually get to you're goal.

It’s almost like a magic trick. You think the trick is the goal, the thing you’re trying to make happen, but that’s the misdirection. What actually makes the trick work is happening somewhere else, in the thing you weren’t paying attention to: the next significant change you needed to make. Once you make that change, what seemed like the impossible result starts happening almost as a consequence.

[Salvijus]

"There is one thing in this world which must never be forgotten. If you were to forget everything else, but did not forget that, then there would be no cause to worry; whereas if you performed and remembered and did not forget every single thing, but forgot that one thing, then you would have done nothing whatsoever" - Rumi.

Edited 15 hours ago by Salvijus

[Olaf]

@Salvijus I think that applies well to this, although I don't know if he meant something different

[Ramanujan]

being financially free , having maslow's heirarchy of needs met , enlightment , being world class in a skill

[Olaf]

@Ramanujan those are goals, but read what I wrote, the goal is not the end, but the process aka the next most important step towards developping yourself is what is important. Would you give an alcoholic 1 million euros? No, because he would drink himself to death. Would you make a broke person enlightened? No, because he would become a spiritual bypasser.

[Leo Gura]

Whatever you believe it is.

[oOo]

Truth.

As a personal anecdote to help people that disagree understand, or just whitewash it as a cliche answer, this wasn't always my belief.

But imagine a world where truth didn't matter.

Or just imagine our inner world where truth didn't matter.

Or just imagine any alternative to truth possibly being better, can you imagine it being better in actuality when truth is understood as a measurement of how to bring that alternative into being?

For me, I have previously defined truth as "the absence of falsity", where the seeking of truth, is by removing falsity more than the insertion of truth. This is because our human brain is geared too much towards confirmation bias on average that I find it better to lean on our brains capacity for anomalous reasoning. 

We all have past sticking points from realising better beliefs and sticking points to present beliefs we already have. The key is understanding the interconnection points, to break, relieve, release and or reorder, and then reconnect.

[Olaf]

@oOo truth doesn't necessarily lead to improvement, it are often very delusional people that get to improve. Like @LordFall and his dream of buying a castle, it seems very abstract to me, but I kinda like his bold dream that feels far away from reality and who knows he might get a castle too. I think that truth will lead towards more inner growth, but it should be mixed all together, inner and outer growth which in the end isn't necessarily focused on truth always. Allot of inner growth leads to spiritual bypassing and focusing solely on truth, too much outer growth leads to delusional manipulative player behavior, somewhere in the middle would be best. Like the Buddha said, the middle path is the way and truth isn't a middle path, it is an extreme.

Edited 1 hour ago by Olaf

[oOo]

1 hour ago, Olaf said:

@oOo truth doesn't necessarily lead to improvement, it are often very delusional people that get to improve. Like @LordFall and his dream of buying a castle, it seems very abstract to me, but I kinda like his bold dream that feels far away from reality and who knows he might get a castle too. I think that truth will lead towards more inner growth, but it should be mixed all together, inner and outer growth which in the end isn't necessarily focused on truth always. Allot of inner growth leads to spiritual bypassing and focusing solely on truth, too much outer growth leads to delusional manipulative player behavior, somewhere in the middle would be best. Like the Buddha said, the middle path is the way and truth isn't a middle path, it is an extreme.

It's important for you to develop your own opinion, but first and foremost, to value that path for yourself and as yourself, self-honestly.

I very much believe in the power of every individual, and that at the core of every individual is pure goodness. 

What happens in life, to us, is when we learn one falsehood, it can lead to another and another.

These manifest as disorders of mind, disorders of circumstance like not handling conflict well as one could have or just a disordered life. 

For me, a falsehood, so a non-truth, can be by degrees, or it can be really solid like physical reality.

Moreover, something can be both a truth and a falsehood at the very same time, what matters is perspective.

Like a guy getting punched in the face. The guy that swung, he's happy and that's his personal truth. And for the guy that got hit, its a falsehood against his well-being. But then we have the truth that it was true that it even happened at all, which is different from the truth that it was bad that it had happened from one perspective, and that it was good that it had happened from another perspective.

So when I say "Truth", I mean that in the "What is intrinsically good for the health, well being and potential of the human being", and if that is pursued relentlessly, I truly believe, that even if a psychopath has this belief, that it will be good for other human beings given it changes the way they would reason about them.

Because Truth means so many different things to many different people, its important for us uniquely as individuals to workout what we personally think alone, outside of others, what truth may mean from an objective, universal, personal and shared space.

The shared space is just that point between us and the world where we get to learn and engage with others, including all the messiness in-between. 

You don't have to get things perfect, you just have to get the intention to be true, and not let the worlds messiness, including our own, get in the way of realising that truth within you.

Edited 13 minutes ago by oOo

[Olaf]

@oOo the highest truth is mystery, philosphy is meant to make you question everything so that you're mind finally shuts up and just be present to the moment, because after questioning everything you realise there are no answers and there is just silence, presence, nothing. BUT practically speaking, coming back down to earth, that is not gonna do any good for an alcoholic. You can't say to an alcoholic "everything is a mystery" he is like "oh yeah cool, do you have any beer?"  this is the problem with spiritual bypassing, ignoring the earthly things to be in a heavenly state of mystery and presence. It needs to be a balance, if someone is retired or financially free, they can be in that state all the time and I wouldn't judge them for persuing that, but unless you want to live in a cave or be homeless, it is recommended to improve yourself and not spiritually bypass, which more often then not happens with persuing truth.