Playing With Perspectives

[UnbornTao]

How ignorant can one be? I've been noticing the courage it takes to recognize one's own blindspots and to step outside one's world. It's like you live in a small bubble. You may not realize this without courage and hard work -- or ever. Thankfully there are people whose world is bigger than yours and can help you become aware of your ignorance.

Contemplate:

• What constitutes your worldview? What do you assume is true about you, life and existence?
• What is a belief?
• What would be required for you to step outside your world? What lies beyond your set of assumptions?
• How can you empower your capacity for learning?

Edited April 2, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

In our society we're not valued by who we are as a being but by how we look, what we do and say, etc. In other words, by the impressions we make on others and by how they feel about them. 

What would it look like being valued as the being that you are? What about valuing the being of another?

What about dropping "value" altogether? Can you perceive "another"?

[UnbornTao]

Who do you make responsible for your learning? Which institution, authority, individual and group do you place at the source of your learning? What are the consequences of not taking up full responsibility for one's own learning?

When you experience yourself as the source of your learning, dwell in that. Observe that, whenever learning occurred for you, it happened in your experience and nowhere else.

Grasp deeply that the one in the driver's seat is you.

Edited June 11, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Huh. Sometimes fear creeps in the background of my investigations whenever I get very open. Why is that? Is this a fear of groundlessness?

Edited February 23, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

A concept you have about it is not an experience of it!

[UnbornTao]

At times I idealized authenticity when in fact it's just like being a kid again. Less non-authenticity is more "you". Recall your experience as a kid when you were simply you. It's a freeing and joyful experience in itself. More present, much more real, more vital, more open and vulnerable, and yet that is a result of becoming less, of dropping pretense, of letting go of anything that isn't you.

Over time, throughout your "growing up", you adopted a lot of pretense and nonsense, for whatever reason. Authenticity demands experiencing life as who and what you are. What stands in the way of that for you?

Kind of like an incomplete expression but there you go.

Edited April 2, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

I think that the more acutely aware you become of the possibility of death, the more intense the intent to pursue truth becomes.

[UnbornTao]

Enlightenment work requires seriousness. I've been going through times of disinterest even though I kept going. At times, it may appear as though seriousness is lacking. Once again, I've began to cultivate this desire, which is there but had been ignored for a time. I suspect this may be an occasional trap.

Find the seriousness in your experience. It's already there.

Edited April 2, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Manipulation, depending on how it's held, can be thought of as existential. It can be defined as the following:

Moving (influencing) an object, another or oneself physically, emotionally and/or psychologically for fulfilling one's self-agenda.

It doesn't seem to be negative by itself but results in certain consequences for oneself. Which ones? 

So what do I do?

Make another distinction -- communication. Choose to increase communication and decrease manipulation. Extrapolating, this results in integrity and a sense of wholeness as a person.

Edited June 11, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

At some point in our childhood we assume that being who we are isn't enough. Hence the need we feel to be and act inauthentic. This can snowball in adulthood and turn you into a completely false, phony persona.

[UnbornTao]

Quote

"No matter what a deluded man may think he is perceiving, 
he is really seeing Brahman and nothing else but Brahman." 

- Shankara

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Activities are not existential. They don't exist by themselves but by relationship. Humans create communication, success, mastery, shame, boredom, sports, effectiveness, society. Another avenue of contemplation to go down to is: What exists? What is existential vs an activity, an invention? What exists independent of our actions, including perception, thinking, making sense, etc?

What exists is prior to our conception of it. In order to become aware of "what is", concept is inessential.

On the other hand, if no word is given, the reality of it is harder to grasp, since there would be nothing for the mind to place its attention on. Concept brings up a distinction to which to point. One drawback, however, is the possibility of being tempted to holding onto such concept, thus missing the reality that is being pointed at by that particular distinction, whatever it is.

Edited March 8, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

In order to notice that something exists, first its non-existence has to be allowed. For form to be recognized we must allow for its non-existence. We experience the distinction "apple" thanks to not-apple. We're conscious of the apple because we're conscious it's not a banana, and we distinguish the air around it as part of not-apple.

This seems to equally apply to any thought, belief, feeling, attitude, and perception.

Edited June 11, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Interesting form of fear: the fear of being found out! Being afraid that people might recognize that at our core we may feel unworthy, vulnerable, unlovable, fake. This seem to manifest in our pretending in order to be perceived as being okay. We're just hiding how we hold ourselves. Good news, it isn't true.

Get at the root of what you assume about yourself so that you become free of it.

Edited March 9, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

Many people seem to be stuck on adolescence and don't grow beyond that. You've occasionally encountered individuals who are mature and grown up. What's maturity?

Edited April 2, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Pay attention to the following dynamic: knowledge can create ignorance. Belief masquerades as understanding. Knowledge (belief) binds you to ignorance without you realizing it. Beliefs are often conflated with personal, direct experience. Our fundamental assumption is, of course, that our assumptions are true!

Belief undermines the possibility of having genuine insights and of becoming aware.

Like a closed circuit, assumptions undermine the possibility of truly knowing, and becoming aware of, what something is for itself. They restrict your perspective by keeping your mind stuck within them. In this way, the necessary openness that precedes any form of investigation and inquiry is severely diminished.

This dilemma is solved by eliminating and transcending every disempowering belief that you hold. Start by acknowledging the fact that you don't know, and dwell on that. From that recognition, wonder emerges, and true discovery becomes a possibility.

Edited July 14, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

Why pursue distraction? What function does it serve? What are you looking to avoid by being distracted? What do you gain by being distracted? What if you stop pursuing it? What if you stay silent, still and present, without any distraction, for a long time? How come that, without distraction, a sense of uneasiness and discomfort seem to arise?

Edited July 1, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]