Playing with Perspectives

[UnbornTao]

On 11/6/2023 at 6:58 PM, Sincerity said:

Love that. 

You maintain a great journal.

Thank you!

Edited May 26 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

What's significant in life must be created by you; otherwise, you'll end up living an inherited life.

Play a game worth playing that is bigger than you and that causes you to be authentic.

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Quote

The real point to the est Training was to go down through layer after layer [...] until you got to the last layer and peeled it off, where the recognition was that it's really all meaningless and empty. That's Existentialism's endpoint. Est went a step further in that people began to recognize that it was not only meaningless and empty, but it was empty and meaningless that it was empty and meaningless. And in that there's an enormous freedom. All the constrictions, all of the rules you've placed on yourself are gone, and what you're left with is nothing. And nothing is an extraordinarily powerful place to stand, because it is only from nothing that you can create. And from this nothing people were able to invent a life.

- Werner Erhard.

 

Edited May 26 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

A form of seemingly inherent joy naturally comes to the forefront of one’s experience whenever you get out of your own way. Increasing awareness tends to open the door for bliss to become more readily available as a lived experience. In such moments, rather than struggling, you are simply free to be.

Cultivate presence and conscious attention--many benefits will arise from this practice.

Edited May 26 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Problem-solving and creating are fundamentally different approaches to any situation.

Consider this: What happens when all your problems are solved? Chances are, your situation remains much the same--only now, it’s merely free of problems, not filled with what you actually want.

So ask yourself: What do you want to create? How can you begin moving in that direction right now? What one action can you take today that moves you forward?

Edited May 26 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

It doesn't have to be true nor make sense for it to work.

Edited November 13, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Quote

Whenever there's another, fear arises.

- The Upanishads

 

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

We usually are actively looking for things to believe in! That’s what humans seem to be up to, for the most part—especially in spiritual or philosophical circles. Believing is easy and convenient, while genuine investigation is challenging. It demands discipline, time, and effort, and it can threaten our existing worldview, self-identity, and attachments.

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Excuses are used to justify your behavior, making you appear 'good' and right in your own mind so you can continue doing what you’re doing. They’re a way of avoiding responsibility--letting you off the hook.

What if you stopped making excuses? Consider simply acknowledging to yourself what you do--and what you don’t, with no story to explain or justify it.

"I did this - or didn't - and am willing to face the consequences, whether negative or positive."

Edited June 1 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Notice whether you play the game of life to create what you want or to avoid loss.

Avoiding loss shows up in various ways:

1. Don’t play any game. Don’t take anything up. Be complacent. The reasoning here is: if I don’t play, I can’t lose.
2. Avoid completing anything. You can’t lose if it’s left unfinished.
3. Do it half-heartedly. “But I didn’t really try” is yet another way to avoid loss.
4. Keep others from winning. You appear to lose when others win--so you sabotage their efforts to keep your position of relative safety. If no one wins, then (you think) you haven’t lost.
5. Play the nice guy/girl role. Pretend to like everyone, be nice to everyone, so we can all silently agree that you haven’t lost. It’d be rude for us to tell you otherwise.
6. Turn yourself into the game. Become a problem so that you become the center of attention. Get sick, throw tantrums, destroy the game--whatever it takes to make others stop playing and take care of you.
7. Adopt the judge’s role. Play “the righteous judge.” Since you’re not actively creating the results you want, you attack others’ vitality and enthusiasm instead. Criticize, blame, denigrate, troll, sabotage, act righteous, “debunk”--so your relative position appears good and “right,” despite producing no significant result in your own life.

Does any of the above resonate with you? Have you encountered people who operate this way?

Edited June 10 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

A sense that arises from our deep-seated self-doubt is the tendency to trust the veracity of another’s expression more than our own, which often seems to ring hollow. Since we make a distinction between the objective world--external to and independent of ourselves--and the workings of our own minds, what comes from this “objective world” is given precedence over our own fabrications. We are acutely aware that our experience is profoundly subjective, and we would do well to recognize that the same holds true for the experiences of others--even though, for each of us, "others" belong to what we regard as the domain of the objective world.

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Investigate how resisting your present experience relates to anxiety.

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

It's Ralph all the way down.

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Watching The Simpsons:

 

Edited May 27 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

The emotion of anger is generated by you in order to protect the hurt and vulnerable person hiding behind the emotion. In this case, being more honest would require allowing yourself to experience the feeling of hurt.

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

As a week-long exercise, do not judge anything, not even subtly. Take notice whenever it happens, and stop it.

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

What roles do you take on in relation to others? What do you assume about yourself—and about how others should perceive you?

In the presence of others, I feel I have to be, play, or show up as...

1. Social / Identity Roles

• The rebel, the “bad one”
• The good one, the obedient
• The charismatic leader
• The loner, the lone wolf
• The princess, the prince
• The macho, the feminine one
• The intellectual, the wise one
• The ignorant, the fool
• The spiritual, the mystic
• The religious
• The conservative
• The progressive, the liberal

2. Emotional / Affective States

• Vulnerable, exposed
• Strong, invulnerable
• Shy, reserved
• Angry, intimidating
• Ashamed, guilty
• Loved, cherished
• Admired, respected
• Doubtful, insecure
• Apathetic, disconnected
• Anxious, restless

3. Attitudes / Behaviors

• Controlling, dominant
• Submissive, compliant
• Funny, sarcastic
• Serious, rigid
• Agreeable, approved
• Disagreeable, confrontational
• Mysterious, reserved
• Open, transparent
• Inquisitive, skeptical
• Disillusioned, cynical

4. Self-Perceptions / How I Think Others See Me

• Problem, burden
• Inspiration, example
• Victim, misunderstood
• Center of attention
• Invisible, ignored
• Strange, unexpected
• Stupid, clumsy
• Intelligent, competent
• Eccentric, “crazy”
• Charismatic, charming

Edited May 30 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

In what way am I being such that:

1. I seem to be stuck?
2. I’m approaching this (experience, event, person, object, whatever) the way I am — whether powerful, weak, afraid, brave, reserved, curious, confrontational, etc.?

On another note, the following dynamic may be self-validating:

I assume X about myself, then act like X, and am therefore perceived by others as X, which gives me feedback that validates my initially adopted self-image: “I am indeed X. See? This [response, effect, circumstance, character trait] is the proof.”

Edited June 4 by UnbornTao