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escapado
Germany
88 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 20 2012 : 03:42:29 AM
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Hey there
Well this isn't exactly an enlightenement milestone or at least not a single experience or something that would've changed my mind even for a moment
I just had some thoughts and felt the need to share
This goes out to all of you who have problems working out the whole practices thingy like I did and still do kind of.
I've read many posts where people are saying that their DM is a very foggy experience and that they are overwhelmed by thoughts.
Okay let me say something on this:
What I've noticed from myself (so to say: I don't know how much this is the case with you) is that I live almost only in the top space of my body starting somewhere at the heart maybe but mostly in my head. So it's all thoughts and no ground no earth just cloudy sky.
If you feel like that maybe try what helped me: Become more aware especially when walking. Walk slowly, really slow. As slow as it needs to be in order to be aware of your movements. Become more mindful of your body. When you start feeling your body as more of a whole you will also have something like a pool into which you can rest. Meditation will be less of a drama.
Don't be occupied all of the time especially not with entertaining yourself, I once was told "it lies in the boredom" (or so but hard to say in english since the german word implies some more meaning). Be open as entertainment all of the time is like trying not to face yourself.
Contemplate. Let me give an example from my statements above: "Why do I want to do something all the time?"
I didn't read much about it here and I want to encourage you to go your own way! Here it is said that SBP plows the ground for the seed of the meditation. I do SB but to me contemplation does a damn good job preparing me for meditation, too. And there surely are more methods just find what fits you!
Let me give an example for what I said before, again: Observe the mind (when it's least prepared lol :P), in it thoughts of what you can do to spend the day pop up even long before you are ready to do anything (just woke up for example) and this defines how you feel.
"Oh today I will do this and that how good that I have a way to spend my time!" Or "Damn this and that are all the things I do and I don't feel satisfied with the thought of just doing that today, what a pathetic day"
A good distance to thoughts like these or acceptance is good imo but keep it alive so that it's real not just another mindprocess imitating the observer, which you really are.
Get yourself inspiration! To me inspiration is the beginning most of the time. It fuels you and gives a good vibe to your practices - in my experience it does I dunno how exactly it will be for you :P
Oh and: keep it real. It's just my opinion and someone who is wiser might disagree in one way or another but what I think is for example: Don't go into that love talking stuff if you don't feel it and don't "scold" yourself for not being like that. Accept yourself as what you are and don't try to fit into a stereotype. You deserve your own way and you got free tools so... be authentic. It will cut out lots of unnecessary drama and useless bullsh...
Whenever I act authentical I feel myself getting a little closer to what I really am, becoming a tiny little bit more silent inside and feeling more of an acceptance rather than the need to change.
So be real ;)
That's it for now - in my mind the post was much more organized but... yeah that's how it came out in the end ;D
I hope I can help someone out with that :)
Have a nice journey |
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gatito
United Kingdom
179 Posts |
Posted - Jan 20 2012 : 6:02:48 PM
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quote:
Oh and: keep it real. It's just my opinion and someone who is wiser might disagree in one way or another but what I think is for example: Don't go into that love talking stuff if you don't feel it and don't "scold" yourself for not being like that. Accept yourself as what you are and don't try to fit into a stereotype. You deserve your own way and you got free tools so... be authentic. It will cut out lots of unnecessary drama and useless bullsh...
Whenever I act authentical I feel myself getting a little closer to what I really am, becoming a tiny little bit more silent inside and feeling more of an acceptance rather than the need to change.
So be real ;)
Seems pretty wise to me - but maybe someone wiser will come along and put us right!  |
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nearoanoke
USA
525 Posts |
Posted - Jan 20 2012 : 7:59:01 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by escapado
Oh and: keep it real. It's just my opinion and someone who is wiser might disagree in one way or another but what I think is for example: Don't go into that love talking stuff if you don't feel it and don't "scold" yourself for not being like that. Accept yourself as what you are and don't try to fit into a stereotype. You deserve your own way and you got free tools so... be authentic. It will cut out lots of unnecessary drama and useless bullsh...
Whenever I act authentical I feel myself getting a little closer to what I really am, becoming a tiny little bit more silent inside and feeling more of an acceptance rather than the need to change.
So be real ;)
That is a pretty sound advice. This is also one of the common traps that a spiritual aspirant falls into. You start doing practices for sometime and this identity of a seeker builds pretty quickly. You want enlightenment. You dont want what you have now. You want to be in that grand state which is somewhere out there outside yourself.
The forum interactions can help build that identity very well. You have other people now who (you think) are watching you now. You struggle to maintain a good image in their eyes. It can be the idea of a sane spiritual seeker having many experiences and going towards something. It can even be the identity of a seeker who is not getting any experiences despite sincere efforts.
All this seeking, attachment to spiritual identities has successfully kept you away from being your natural self. Someone tells you success depends on your bhakti and you try to act it out when it is not there. Or else you listen to some wisdom that says "be as you are" and for the next few days this thing takes upon you where you will be trying to be as you are than just being.
- Near |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2012 : 06:13:22 AM
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Is Autumn more authentic than summer, or winter more real than spring?
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Edited by - karl on Jan 21 2012 06:15:13 AM |
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maheswari
Lebanon
2520 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2012 : 10:06:08 AM
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quote:
Don't be occupied all of the time especially not with entertaining yourself, I once was told "it lies in the boredom" (or so but hard to say in english since the german word implies some more meaning). Be open as entertainment all of the time is like trying not to face yourself.
very true...when my mind thinks that i am doing nothing (although i am doing something,you can but be always doing somethings!) and starts judging the worthiness of what i am doing...i find it a great opportunity to observe my thoughts...i even involve myself even more in those "silly" stuff and doing them perfectly...these stuff presented themselves to be in order to be done, so guess what? i wholeheartedly do them ...then i realize there is nothing silly, it is all my mind judgments....funny enough from "silly" stuff i start feeling inspiration that comes from inner silence ....lately i dont tell myself anymore i will do this and that today it is more let me see how my day will unfold today...more spontaneous, more fluid...
this mental pattern of the need to be entertained and buisy all day long in "important' stuff is very much found in workaholics....there is a dimension that people judge as "laziness' in fact it is the ease of being,the going with the flow,the accepting of the moment at hand...."laziness" should be glorified
quote:
Autumn more authentic than summer, or winter more real than spring?
made me remember this, from Ponder these Truths/Swami Chidananda (Divine Life Society -Rishikesh)
"It is told that a traveller into a rural area asked a shepherd: “How do you think the weather
will be today?” “Oh, it will be weather that I like.” “How do you know it will be weather that you
like, how can you say that?” The shepherd answered: “It is like this, sir, knowing that over such
things as the weather I have no control, knowing I cannot change it, long ago I decided that
whatever weather comes I will like it. And therefore, now I am at peace. I am always sure that I will
get weather that is to my liking 365 days of the year. Because I cannot change it, I have started liking
whatever I get. Instead of always trying to get only that thing that I like, I decided that it is wiser to
like whatever thing I get"
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Edited by - maheswari on Jan 21 2012 10:07:41 AM |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2012 : 10:57:10 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by maheswari
quote:
Autumn more authentic than summer, or winter more real than spring?
made me remember this, from Ponder these Truths/Swami Chidananda (Divine Life Society -Rishikesh)
"It is told that a traveller into a rural area asked a shepherd: “How do you think the weather
will be today?” “Oh, it will be weather that I like.” “How do you know it will be weather that you
like, how can you say that?” The shepherd answered: “It is like this, sir, knowing that over such
things as the weather I have no control, knowing I cannot change it, long ago I decided that
whatever weather comes I will like it. And therefore, now I am at peace. I am always sure that I will
get weather that is to my liking 365 days of the year. Because I cannot change it, I have started liking
whatever I get. Instead of always trying to get only that thing that I like, I decided that it is wiser to
like whatever thing I get"
Yes, if you watch a child at play they go through a whole series of characters, they play sides and emotions, exert power and capitulate, they are fair and cruel by degrees.
But they remain the same child.
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escapado
Germany
88 Posts |
Posted - Jan 22 2012 : 09:39:19 AM
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Oh what I forgot to add is don't judge yourself for not being aware for example when being mindful outside the practices or during dm
it's just a waste of time :P and it will be even more time spent in being astray in thoughts
@karl yes you are the same but unless you are not aware of that it's good to be authentic
I think authenticity is the enlightenment of the world and knowing your true essence is more like the spiritual or real enlightenment just my weird way of descirbing it right now :D |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jan 22 2012 : 12:22:38 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by escapado
@karl yes you are the same but unless you are not aware of that it's good to be authentic
I think authenticity is the enlightenment of the world and knowing your true essence is more like the spiritual or real enlightenment just my weird way of descirbing it right now :D
Rock and Roll |
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escapado
Germany
88 Posts |
Posted - Jan 25 2012 : 04:30:01 AM
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| on certain drugs this is what the authenticity feels like, yea :D |
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jan 25 2012 : 05:57:00 AM
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Drugs
You cannot know true authenticity because the real cannot be known. It isn't becoming, it simply is. Without the cloak of illusion, there is not even a mind by which the real can be known.
If you feel the need to act, feel or think in a certain way then that's how it will be. Is someone more authentic because they do not wear make up, or drive an expensive car? These are visible external manifestations, they apply equally to internal thought.
Before enlightenment chop sticks carry water, after enlightenment chop sticks carry water. Its an interesting little sentence because it has facets. One facet might be that after enlightenment you get on with day to day living, alternatively, it might suggest there is no difference and that before and after are the real illusions. More of a wry joke
So, try delving into your self defined authenticity, look at each authentic thought, weigh each against your base line for authenticity. Does this thought have a motive? Is this thought pure and untainted by the none authentic? Which one is the authentic representation of the real me?
If you do that, really meditate hard on the evaluation of each thought and pick it apart, for a brief moment what you thought was you and all your efforts will dissolve and you will just 'be'. Then all the thoughts will rush right back in, but it won't matter because for a tiny fraction of time you became the source and it cannot be erased.
Try it another way. Stand looking into a mirror. Is what you see a true image of your internal representation. Yet, of course it can only be your true, visual reflection. So, why does it not look like your internal representation. Then it dawns. You are also interpreting the reflected image. It's like a feedback loop. It becomes impossible to not to add your interpretation to the image that you a seeing. The image is only an image, but you give it life, judge it. How can you see your image and not judge it in some way and in doing so create a refective judgement on the one who watches.
This probably doesn't make any kind of sense. It's like saying that in the land of illusion, that there can be an authentic illusion. Just like a true lie. I'm not saying this very elegantly and In the end it doesn't matter. it's not important.
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Edited by - karl on Jan 25 2012 06:03:47 AM |
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escapado
Germany
88 Posts |
Posted - Jan 27 2012 : 12:37:00 PM
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Good old Karl I really enjoy reading you
I don't mean authenticity is a certain pattern or something I consider true all of the time and it's not on the outside. It's inside. Believing that a seeker should have no bad intentions while you have them in some situation and just because of that belief imposing that image of the seeker onto yourself - that's what I mean. Be true to yourself like it doesn't matter what you believe or what anyone said just be what you are and this is authenticity to me. It's being with what you are in some way.
While what I am talking about is more like accept yourself instead of changing yourself or hiding something from yourself because you think it's wrong in some way. I also experience through contemplation/self-inquiry and DM that my true essence lies beyond and behind the things (even the most subtle) but all my life I have been trying to find the authentic expression of myself this is why I make an issue out of it because I believe in accepting myself I've found a way |
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